Emma Raducanu: How does British No. 1 become more 'robust' and how will she do on clay this season?

How does one become robust? It’s not a quality that often pops up in victory speeches. “I was really pleased with my robustness in that match,” said no tennis player ever. Yet being robust – durable, sturdy, able to withstand and endure – is clearly an important attribute for a champion.

Winning a Grand Slam title requires robustness. Ad/> Emma Raducanu knows this well. She didn’t just endure for two weeks when she won the US Open last summer, she tacked on another three wins beforehand as she had to come through qualifying to make the main draw.

At no point during her remarkable run in New York did Raducanu appear fatigued, hindered by injury, or wavering physically. Billie Jean King Cup SinglesRaducanu must get more robust — GB captain KeothavongYESTERDAY AT 20:17 Yet, eight months on, Raducanu’s robustness is under the spotlight. So far this season she has had blisters on her hand at the Australian Open, a thigh and hip problem in Mexico, a stiff back in Indian Wells, and a foot blister in the Billie Jean King Cup.

She also revealed that she has “no toenails” due to the work she has been putting in ahead of her first clay season on the WTA Tour. Keothavong: Raducanu must get more robust GB miss out on Billie Jean King Cup finals Add 2022’s issues to the breathing problems that forced her to retire at Wimbledon last year and illness at the Transylvania Open, and there are signs of an early-career theme. Even as a junior Raducanu said she did not have the “opportunity to compete” as much as she wanted due to “various reasons, injuries, school, niggles”.

Raducanu had made a positive start in Prague at the weekend, beating world No. 50 Tereza Martincova 7-5 7-5 in her first clay-court match at tour level. But a blister on