Emma Raducanu

[Marumi]

HTP99 said:

Yep, just lucky a 1 hit wonder.

What about winning the US Open was 'lucky?'

[Skeptisk]

Marumi said:

HTP99 said:

Yep, just lucky a 1 hit wonder.

What about winning the US Open was 'lucky?'

She played really well but didn’t have to take on an in form Swiatek or equivalent. Not her fault that the field opened up for her and it was still an amazing achievement but she definitely had luck in terms of opponents she did face rather than ones she could or perhaps should have faced.

[SunsetZed]

Skeptisk said:

Marumi said:

HTP99 said:

Yep, just lucky a 1 hit wonder.

What about winning the US Open was 'lucky?'

She played really well but didn’t have to take on an in form Swiatek or equivalent. Not her fault that the field opened up for her and it was still an amazing achievement but she definitely had luck in terms of opponents she did face rather than ones she could or perhaps should have faced.

Fair point but you can put that spin on most peoples achievements. Imagine how many titles Murray would have won if he was a few years younger when Leyton Hewitt won plenty etc.

[Miocene]

SunsetZed said:

Skeptisk said:

Marumi said:

HTP99 said:

Yep, just lucky a 1 hit wonder.

What about winning the US Open was 'lucky?'

She played really well but didn’t have to take on an in form Swiatek or equivalent. Not her fault that the field opened up for her and it was still an amazing achievement but she definitely had luck in terms of opponents she did face rather than ones she could or perhaps should have faced.

Fair point but you can put that spin on most peoples achievements. Imagine how many titles Murray would have won if he was a few years younger when Leyton Hewitt won plenty etc.

I looked at the all time earnings for tennis last night, Andy Murray is 4th. In a time of 'the big three', that's an incredible achievement.

I know there's more money around now than there was in the days of Sampras etc, but it struck me as an incredible achievement.

[McGee_22]

I think there is a little too much pressure of expectation on Raducanu for a second GS success - for some kind of comparison here are some players (not the all time greats) and their time frames between first and second GS wins...

Pete Sampras, nearly 3 years
Andre Agassi, over 2 years
Virginia Wade, almost 4 years
Maria Sharapova, over 2 years

All good players in their time and all well regarded (Sharapova's drug saga aside), and here are some one hit wonders...

Sue Barker,
Ana Ivanovic,
Gabriela Sabatini,
Andy Roddick
Pat Cash,

Again all good/great players but only one Grand Slam at the end of their careers - would anyone say they were all one hit wonders who had fluked their one and only Grand Slam win? there are lots of other who fought really hard, just like Raducanu did, to get to a Final and win - and that was tehre only win.

There is obviously something funky and unbalanced about Raducanu's training regime that is bring on this many injuries - personally from watching on as she plays her matches I would suggest her recovery from lack of fitness following the US Open win and contracting covid19 has been a little too biased toward gym work rather than practice time on the court- she needs a male hitting partner to sharpen up her practice sessions and has one now after too long without one but perhaps a little less heavy gym work and more endurance focussed training with more practice court time should be the way ahead.

As for the expectations, look at those names again, Sampras, Agassi, Wade, Barker, Roddick, Cash - all great players and for a little more evidence about what an achievement it is to win a Grand Slam, Andy Murray won his first Grand Slam in his fifth Grand Slam final four years after getting to his first Grand Slam final.

Emma's US Open win will always be the fairytale of New York simply because it was so unique - first qualifier ever to get to a final, first qualifier ever to win a final, never dropped a set - simply a brilliant story but you can only play who is front of you and for 10 matches over 3 weeks she did that and fair play to her - she beat every single one and never dropped her nerve or a single set.

[JagLover]

McGee_22 said:

I think there is a little too much pressure of expectation on Raducanu for a second GS success - for some kind of comparison here are some players (not the all time greats) and their time frames between first and second GS wins...

Pete Sampras, nearly 3 years

It is not unusual for a player to have a long gap after winning their first GS before winning again. What is unusual is having such a collapse in form that they can barely win a match.

You mention Sampras well he won the Grand slam cup the same year and won two other tour titles in the year following his win.

As you mention the issue seems to be training.

[pincher]

McGee_22 said:

I think there is a little too much pressure of expectation on Raducanu for a second GS success

The expectation level at the moment doesn't seem to go much past finishing a match, let alone another GS!

[swisstoni]

Murray was an interesting example. Skinny and gangly, he always seemed to be crocked when he started, despite having the game and the mentality. He had to work hard to build himself up.

Emma may be the same; she seems tall but fairly slight, especially around the middle.

Obviously I’m just another shmuck in an armchair, but it does look like she’s going to have to strengthen her body so it can stand up to the long term punishment.

[rjfp1962]

Has encouraging results following a scan. Looks like she will miss the Rothesay Classic tournament next week in Birmingham, but will play at the Rothesay International tournament in Eastbourne the following week.

[g4ry13]

swisstoni said:

Murray was an interesting example. Skinny and gangly, he always seemed to be crocked when he started, despite having the game and the mentality. He had to work hard to build himself up.

Emma may be the same; she seems tall but fairly slight, especially around the middle.

Obviously I’m just another shmuck in an armchair, but it does look like she’s going to have to strengthen her body so it can stand up to the long term punishment.

I'm not sure she stays on court long enough to suffer long term punishment.

I'd argue it's more a mind over matter thing and more a case of pushing through pain.

[deckster]

g4ry13 said:

I'd argue it's more a mind over matter thing and more a case of pushing through pain.

Interested in your physiotherapy qualifications here?

As "pushing through pain", particularly for young people, is exactly what most trainers say you shouldn't do and is a great way to set yourself up for long-term injuries and physical problems in later life.

"Listen to what your body is telling you" is a much better mantra.

[g4ry13]

deckster said:

g4ry13 said:

I'd argue it's more a mind over matter thing and more a case of pushing through pain.

Interested in your physiotherapy qualifications here?

As "pushing through pain", particularly for young people, is exactly what most trainers say you shouldn't do and is a great way to set yourself up for long-term injuries and physical problems in later life.

"Listen to what your body is telling you" is a much better mantra.

I don't think it's any secret that some Tennis players have stayed on the court with injuries and persevered through them. Whereas others throw in the towel and walk off.

Either you're made of the stuff where you're willing to play a game when everything isn't 100%, or you are in the camp which walks off when the slightest niggle crops up.

As I have said before: I believe Emma falls into the latter camp - especially when things aren't going well on Court. I'm happy to leave it at that, or agree to disagree.

[leef44]

SunsetZed said:

Skeptisk said:

Marumi said:

HTP99 said:

Yep, just lucky a 1 hit wonder.

What about winning the US Open was 'lucky?'

She played really well but didn’t have to take on an in form Swiatek or equivalent. Not her fault that the field opened up for her and it was still an amazing achievement but she definitely had luck in terms of opponents she did face rather than ones she could or perhaps should have faced.

Fair point but you can put that spin on most peoples achievements. Imagine how many titles Murray would have won if he was a few years younger when Leyton Hewitt won plenty etc.

Yep, if you look at that US Open final, both players played world class tennis.

Leylah played some wonderful shots to try to control the game and put Emma in awkward return shots.

Emma returned with some perfect shots into the corners from the back. Shots which I thought you could only pull off less than 50% of the time, but she must have achieved them 90%.

[anonymous-user]

A really good player doesn't allow you to make great shots regularly. You often get great looking matches from evenly matched lower grade players.

[cuprabob]

She's doing OK with adverts and endorsements though. Today alone I've seen her face plastered over Boots and Vodafone shops.

[SunsetZed]

jsf said:

A really good player doesn't allow you to make great shots regularly. You often get great looking matches from evenly matched lower grade players.

Not sure about that and it also depends on how you define great shots (I'm assuming you mean aesthetically and often regarded as low percentage)

For example I'm pretty sure I've seen Federer regularly making great looking shots against everyone he's played because that's his style even when playing the likes of Nadal and Djokovic.

[antspants]

swisstoni said:

Murray was an interesting example. Skinny and gangly, he always seemed to be crocked when he started, despite having the game and the mentality. He had to work hard to build himself up.

Emma may be the same; she seems tall but fairly slight, especially around the middle.

Obviously I’m just another shmuck in an armchair, but it does look like she’s going to have to strengthen her body so it can stand up to the long term punishment.

I'm no expert either but I've read the opinions of ex-players and trainers who know far more than me... a couple have said that injuries are not uncommon when players first join the tour and that her physical level is some way off her technical ability. They weren't having a dig at her conditioning, more an indication that as her physical conditioning improves she already has the technical attributes to significantly improve.

No doubt some consistency on the coaching front will help and it will be interesting to see if her dad continues to play such an influential role. I'm sure he has the best of intentions but imo they are in danger of appearing difficult to work with. Although maybe that's just par for the course and the US win and increased media focus means we hear about ir.

Edited by antspants on Friday 10th June 14:37

Edited by antspants on Friday 10th June 14:41

[boyse7en]

g4ry13 said:

I don't think it's any secret that some Tennis players have stayed on the court with injuries and persevered through them. Whereas others throw in the towel and walk off.

Either you're made of the stuff where you're willing to play a game when everything isn't 100%, or you are in the camp which walks off when the slightest niggle crops up.

As I have said before: I believe Emma falls into the latter camp - especially when things aren't going well on Court. I'm happy to leave it at that, or agree to disagree.

You say that as if it is some sort of character failing to protect your most valuable asset, your body, against long term injury.
Having the "stuff" to carry on through a match when injured has seen plenty of players spend years on and off court through injury and has truncated the careers of dozens, probably hundreds, of players.

[swisstoni]

boyse7en said:

g4ry13 said:

I don't think it's any secret that some Tennis players have stayed on the court with injuries and persevered through them. Whereas others throw in the towel and walk off.

Either you're made of the stuff where you're willing to play a game when everything isn't 100%, or you are in the camp which walks off when the slightest niggle crops up.

As I have said before: I believe Emma falls into the latter camp - especially when things aren't going well on Court. I'm happy to leave it at that, or agree to disagree.

You say that as if it is some sort of character failing to protect your most valuable asset, your body, against long term injury.
Having the "stuff" to carry on through a match when injured has seen plenty of players spend years on and off court through injury and has truncated the careers of dozens, probably hundreds, of players.

The kid Raducanu beat in the US Open is currently out for 4 months with a stress fracture in a foot because she soldiered on in a match.

[rjfp1962]

Emma starts her Wimbledon campaign this afternoon on Centre Court against Alison Van Uytvanck (World ranking now 46)
Likely to be quite a challenge, and that's if Emma doesn't pick up another injury...!
Come on Emma

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/live/article-1095...