Former British No 1 Tim Henman has insisted Emma Raducanu is \u2018a much better player\u2019 than she was when she won the US Open title almost four years ago.<\/p>\n
Raducanu\u2019s<\/a> breakthrough win in New York catapulted her to international superstardom, but she has predictably struggled to back up that success in the four years since.<\/p>\n Yet Henman suggests the 22-year-old Brit will be heading back into action next week in Washington with renewed hope and belief, after some impressive performances on grass courts in recent weeks.<\/p>\n After reaching the quarter-finals at the new WTA 500 tournament<\/a> at the Queen\u2019s Club, Raducanu pushed world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round at Wimbledon<\/a> and Henman believes she is now maturing into a player ready to compete at the top of the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s a much better player than she was in 2021 because she\u2019s had four more years of experience and now she\u2019s started to build more of a team around her,\u201d Henman told\u00a0Sky Sports News.<\/p>\n Tim Henman makes a bold Emma Raducanu claim as he suggests her critics got it wrong<\/a><\/p>\n Emma Raducanu makes a big breakthrough in alternative tennis rankings<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s been competing so much more this year, which therefore emphasises the physical resilience that she\u2019s got because she was always getting injuries.<\/p>\n \u201dSo I just hope she can continue in that vein because if she keeps doing the right things on the practice court, the results will come on the match because she\u2019s that good a player. And I think it was great to see her on the biggest stage in our sport against the number one player in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cShe had a really good chance to win that match and I\u2019m sure that will motivate her now moving onto the hardcourt swing in America to keep building.\u201d<\/p>\n Henman also admitted Britain\u2019s Jack Draper has a huge task on his hands to compete with for Grand Slam titles, with new Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner and his big rival Carlos Alcaraz winning all seven of the last major titles between them.<\/p>\n Draper crashed out of Wimbledon early after a second round defeat against Marin Cilic, with Henman impressed by the consistency of the top two in the men\u2019s game.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think anyone can deny that those two, Alcaraz and Sinner, have certainly separated the way that they\u2019ve dominated the Grand Slams in the last 18 months to two years,\u201d added Henman.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Jack has made unbelievable strides this year and has been top five in the world. <\/span>He didn\u2019t have the best Wimbledon, but I think that\u2019s a steep learning curve to be playing at home.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s played so well on clay and hard courts and I think he needs to adapt his game a little bit on grass. And the reality is, you don\u2019t get long to play on grass.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are only three weeks between the French Open and Wimbledon and then Wimbledon itself. But he\u2019s got a great team around him. He would have taken many learnings away from the Championships this year and I\u2019m sure in 12 months\u2019 time he\u2019ll be a better player and better prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n Raducanu is set to return to action in a WTA 500 tournament in Washington next week, with Draper\u2019s next match coming a week later at the ATP Masters 1000 National Bank Open in Toronto that gets underway in the last week of July.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what they\u2019ve done in such a short period of time is absolutely incredible,\u201d said Henman. \u201cAnd I think there were understandable concerns about who the next generation was going to be in the men\u2019s because of what [Roger] Federer, [Rafael] Nadal and [Novak] Djokovic had done. They won 66 Grand Slams between them.<\/p>\n \u201cI think at times they\u2019ve almost raised the bar unfairly high. However, Alcaraz has now won five and Sinners won four, and in the grand scheme of the great champions of our sport, you look at [Stefan] Edberg, [Boris] Becker and [John] McEnroe and [Jimmy] Connors and [Andre] Agassi, they won six, seven and eight and they are absolute legends of the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of a sudden, we\u2019re asking the question, \u2018Well, is Alcaraz going to get to 15 and 20?\u2019 I mean, it\u2019s mad, but they are phenomenal players. I think they benefit from each other because that rivalry will continue to motivate them and push each other to keep improving their games. And it\u2019s other players\u2019 jobs to try and get into that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Tim Henman gives Emma Raducanu candid advice after Iga Swiatek hammering<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Tim Henman makes telling Emma Raducanu claim as she prepares to return to action<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former British No 1 Tim Henman has insisted Emma Raducanu is \u2018a much better player\u2019 than she was when she won the US Open title almost four years ago. Raducanu\u2019s breakthrough win in New York catapulted her to international superstardom, but she has predictably struggled to back up that success in the four years since. 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