{"id":1567,"date":"2026-01-06T20:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1567"},"modified":"2026-01-06T20:00:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:00:04","slug":"emma-raducanus-targets-laid-out-by-grand-slam-winner-after-troubled-start-to-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1567","title":{"rendered":"Emma Raducanu\u2019s targets laid out by Grand Slam winner after troubled start to 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Raducanu\u2019s<\/a> start to the 2026 season has followed a familiar pattern, with fitness issues a bigger concern than her performances on court in her opening tournament of the year.<\/p>\n

The tennis grapevine was ripping with rumours suggesting Raducanu may pull out of the Australian swing of the tennis tour after a troubled off-season.<\/p>\n

There was some surprise when she arrived in Perth to play for Great Britain at the United Cup, but the scale of her injury problems were exposed when she was forced to pull out of her opening match against Naomi Osaka.<\/p>\n

She did make it on court and faded badly in her defeat against Greece\u2019s Maria Sakkari, with the 2021 US Open champion revealing the depth of her injury issues after the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started hitting two weeks ago, so it\u2019s been a good two and a bit months where I didn\u2019t play,\u201d said Raducanu, confirming her off-season had effectively been postponed.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

2026 Hobart International entry list, prize money, ranking points, key dates: Raducanu & Williams back in action<\/a><\/p>\n

Emma Raducanu makes \u2018it\u2019s very difficult right now\u2019 confession after United Cup loss<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think today, being able to produce that, having not played, is just giving me confidence to what I can do when I do practise more. I know now I just need to get my head down, keep working.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe season is still very, very young. Week one. There\u2019s a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

While fitness issues look set to dominate Raducanu\u2019s agenda once again in the opening weeks of 2026, Grand Slam-winning great Mark Woodforde believes the 23-year-old showed signs that she can compete at the top during 2025.<\/p>\n

Raducanu contested two tight battles with world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka and bounced back into the top 30 of the WTA Rankings, with Woodforde hoping to see more steps forward for the British No 1 this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t judge her on that one result at the US Open,\u201d Woodforde told Tennis365 in his role as an ambassador at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she can replicate what she did in New York, that would be brilliant, but it was probably something that happened too soon, too quickly in her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that you wouldn\u2019t want it to happen to you, but in a country that has been starved of female players and desperate for her to do well, it must have been very difficult for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was encouraging was that over there were times last year when she seemed to be starting to build the foundation again to show some of that form that was discovered at the US Open a few years back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a hard one to judge right now, but I\u2019m sure UK and British tennis praying on their hands and knees that she is successful. She has put some life back into British women\u2019s tennis and the momentum for players like Katie Boulter has been inspired by the success of Emma Raducanu.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raducanu told Tennis365 in Wuhan last October that she was proud of the inspirational impact she had made on young girls in Britain since her US Open win, with Woodforde acknowledging the impact she has had.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am out at the Hong Kong Open this week and the young local players need someone to look up to and show them what is possible,\u201d he added. \u201cHaving someone who is headlining in their own country can give everyone else such a lift.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pat\n

Pat Cash and Mark Woodforde spoke to Tennis365 at the Bank of China Hong Kong Open<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

READ MORE: Emma Raducanu\u2019s injury concerns in recent weeks made public as she makes big decision<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Emma Raducanu\u2019s targets laid out by Grand Slam winner after troubled start to 2026<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emma Raducanu\u2019s start to the 2026 season has followed a familiar pattern, with fitness issues a bigger concern than her performances on court in her opening tournament of the year. The tennis grapevine was ripping with rumours suggesting Raducanu may pull out of the Australian swing of the tennis tour after a troubled off-season. There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}