Emma Raducanu will be competing for more Grand Slam titles when she returns to full fitness, Jack Draper has insisted. The 2021 US Open champion is scheduled to be back in action at the ASB Classic in Auckland next month after surgeries on her wrists and left ankle last May.
Playing with a protected ranking on world No.103, Raducanu will probably need a wildcard or go through qualifying to play the Australian Open from January 2024.
But her fellow 21-year-old and friend Draper claimed Raducanu, who got into the world’s top ten last year, is destined to get back to the top.
“When she’s fit, she’s an incredible player,” said the British No.4. “I think she’s been struggling with injuries for a long time. I think people forget that before the US Open she was still in school. She didn’t have a lot of training. Obviously, she had that huge run and achieved what people dream of achieving in their whole career. And then obviously I think to expect so much of her after that is a bit of a mistake because she hasn’t maybe got a lot of that physical foundation and the experience of playing on the tour and all those things that all those other players have.
“But I think the talent that she’s got and the maturity as well to do what she did at the US Open is off the charts.
“I think if she can get herself to a good fitness level, she’ll be right up there with the best in the world and she’ll be competing for Grand Slams again. It’s not a quick fix, it takes a lot of time. She’s motivated to want to come back. I think maybe with my shoulder injury, you come off court and you have all this time watching people win things on the big stages and you feel like you’re not being productive and you gain that love for it back and you gain that motivation to want to be back to where you were.
“I know that at some point next year, the year after that she’s going to be back to being in those finals and those big positions because she’s got everything it takes. It’s just a matter of when.”
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Draper, who is competing at the UTS Grand Final at the ExCel Arena this weekend, knows about returning from injury after missing Wimbledon this season with a shoulder tendon injury. “I nearly had to have surgery for it so it was a pretty big injury,” he said.
Draper hired Croatian fitness guru Dejan Vojnovic in January. He said: “I loved him to bits and we’ve put in a lot of great work, but I just don’t think it was maybe the right work for me and so my body kind of broke down.”
The world No.61 is working with Andy Murray’s former fitness coach Steve Kotze. “I’m in a great place and I’m hoping that Mr. Injured is behind me now,” Draper said. “Next year, I want to be in the top 20 in the world. I want to stay injury free. I want to make sure that I’m able to play five sets in the Grand Slam without breaking down physically.”
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