Dan Evans believes Emma Raducanu will add Wimbledon to her US Open triumph, despite her recent injury problems.
Raducanu has not competed since June, when she reached the Queen’s Club final and lost to Donna Vekic. The 23-year-old suffered a stress fracture in her lower right leg and missed both Wimbledon and the US Open. She has dropped out of the world’s top 100 and now sits at world No 107, her lowest position in two years.
Evans, the former British No 1, retired at this year’s Wimbledon after he was controversially denied a singles wildcard. He has still backed Raducanu to win the grass-court title on home soil.
“I genuinely think she will win Wimbledon one day,” Evans told The Telegraph.
“Yeah, I don’t know why. She’s good, and I think – I’m saying this in as nice a way as possible – I think she thinks she’s good.
“Not in an arrogant way, but when she plays big matches, she’s like ‘Whatever. This is just another match.’ And yeah, I just think one day she’ll get it.”
A frustrating 12 months for Raducanu
Persistent physical issues have made the past year difficult for Raducanu. A foot injury severely hampered her pre-season training. She then spent two-and-a-half months off court with a post-viral illness after she first fell unwell in early February.
She returned at the end of the clay-court season after she rehired Andrew Richardson, the coach who guided her to the US Open title. The pair have spent limited time on court together.
Great Britain did not name Raducanu in their team for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in late September. Question marks remain over whether she will compete again in 2026.
The former world No 10 could benefit from ending her season early to focus on recovery and secure a protected ranking before she makes her return next year.
“There’s no doubt she needs to have a racket in her hand a bit more,” said Evans. “I’m sure she’s getting pushed side-to-side by endorsements, and there’s a bit of tug of war on what she needs to do, what she doesn’t.
“I admit I’ve not watched her practices very often, but from what I’m told she’s a good trainer: she works for two, three hours in a row with hardly any break.”
A protected ranking for Raducanu?
If Raducanu misses at least six months of competition through injury, she can use a special ranking for a select number of events when she returns. This would be her top-50 ranking from the grass season, the last time she competed and received prize money at a tournament.
The provision lets players who have been absent for an extended period qualify more easily for tournaments on their return. The ATP and WTA Tours apply different rules on protected rankings.
On the ATP Tour and at other men’s tournaments, an eligible player can use a protected ranking calculated over the three months after the injury. WTA Tour players have a protected ranking fixed at the level it was when they first suffered the injury. A WTA player can use it for eight tournaments in a year, or 12 if she misses more than a year.
Croft: health must come first
Former player-turned-TV analyst Annabel Croft said it would not surprise her if Raducanu closed down her season.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if she made that decision. That wouldn’t be such a bad decision to take because you can fully heal, rest up, get as much treatment as possible and then come out fully fit, raring to go at the start of next year.
“Maybe if there’s a worry about the ranking drop with so many points to defend and potentially that ranking could plummet, although she might benefit from the protected ranking.
“All of these factors have to be considered, don’t they? But at the end of the day, your health is your wealth, as they say, and that is the most important factor and she just needs to get herself fit.
“It’s an unusual injury. I mean, I’ve had calf muscle injuries, which were not nice at all. And the minute you push off, you tweak it and it feels tight but the one thing that I’ve always thought about Raducanu, particularly when we saw her at Queen’s Club on the grass where she played such beautiful tennis, is that she’s very light on her feet. Movement has always been one of her strengths.
“She’s such a great athlete. She moves around the ball. She’s light on her feet and gets into great positions where she never looks off balance. But movement will be part of a major strength of what she brings out onto the court. That needs to be absolutely 100 per cent.”