A very different Wimbledon experience ahead for home hope Raducanu

LONDON : Can it really be only 12 months ago that Emma Raducanu introduced herself to Wimbledon as a beaming, joyous 18-year-old happy to even be invited to the tournament on the back of a WTA career consisting of one match and one straight-sets defeat.

Raducanu's unexpected charge to the fourth round made her front page news but the teenager then retired mid-match with "breathing difficulties" in something of an anti-climax.

Many expected her to disappear as quickly as she had appeared - just the latest in a painfully long line of British women failing to even challenge for the Venus Rosewater Dish last lifted by Virginia Wade in 1977, let alone win it.

Two months later, however, Raducanu had blasted herself into the consciousness of the world way beyond tennis, astonishingly winning the U.S. Open as a 150th-ranked qualifier - without dropping a set - in an achievement widely and rightly ranked among the absolute peaks of any other sport.

Her fearless free hitting and apparent lack of nerves won her legions of sporting admirers, while her fresh-faced smiling, charm, relaxed, modest conversation and Anglo-Canadian/Chinese/Romanian heritage produced an instant queue of high-end sponsors eager to align with the exciting youngster.

It was no surprise that Raducanu failed to back up that victory with more success, but few would have expected her to struggle so much to find consistency the following year.

Amid a succession of injuries, together with regular changes of coach, she has failed to win more than two back-to-back matches in any tournament.

Raducanu has said she struggled to adjust to the physical demands of the intensity of the WTA Tour and feels the time lost during COVID hampered her physical development. As always,