Emma Raducanu has been lauded by former British #1 Johanna Konta after an impressive grass-court campaign.
The 2021 US Open Champion shocked many with her decision earlier this year to skip most of the clay season including Roland Garros. However, fast forward to grass season and it is evident that the Brit made some right choices to build her resurgent self.
Currently ranked WTA #135, Raducanu is set to climb back into the top 100 after reaching the semifinals at Nottingham Open, last eight at Eastbourne International and R16 at All England Club.
Former British No. 1 Konta who reached the Wimbledon semis in 2017 has hailed Raducanu’s brave decision to sit on the sidelines during the whole clay season.
“I think this is where Emma’s really good and very mature,” said Konta.
“She has a thought, she has a direction in mind, and she goes for it and she makes the decision, and I think that’s a very mature approach for a young player.
“And the same thing with her coaching team. I wish I did that more where I felt like a coaching situation wasn’t working, I didn’t wait for it to run its course because of how I thought the media would start speaking about it.
“I really admire her for her conviction in how she goes about deciding things for her career.”
Raducanu’s SW19 run ended in an unexpected three-set loss to Lulu Sun in fourth round but it was unquestionably a big leap in the right direction. It was the first time the 21-year-old reached second week of a Grand Slam since her historic victory at Flushing Meadows and she edged out top ranked WTA players such as Elise Mertens and Maria Sakkari in the process.
Konta believes that despite the shock loss, Raducanu should take plenty of positives from her grass court tennis.
The former WTA #4 added: “I think it’s great to see her again have four successive matches. I think her last match against Sun was actually really positive. I don’t think we’ve had enough of a chance to see Emma in a situation where a lot of resistance has been put up against her.
“I think it was actually positive to see her in that space, especially how she dealt with that first set where Sun played really smart against her. To then see Emma really get stuck into that second set and turn the momentum a bit.
“Ultimately I think in a player’s career this is where you spend most of your time. You’re not going to spend your career just rolling through everybody.
“She will start winning these matches more and more and I think that’s where your deep-rooted confidence in you as a competitor and you as a player and what you can do out there, how you can problem solve, really comes from.
“The more she can be here, I think the more resilient a player it will make her and ultimately I think it will be what makes her a really, really great tennis player.”