Emma Raducanu shares 'first steps' on grass court ahead of Wimbledon return

Emma Raducanu is back on the grass court after her French Open loss, as she turns her attention to her Wimbledon homecoming. A year after her breakout Grand Slam debut at the All England Club, the teenager will be returning as the world No 12 and reigning US Open champion.

Raducanu is already back on the grass after suffering a second-round defeat at the French open on Wednesday. The 19-year-old will be playing the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham before heading back to SW19 as a completely different player than she was at the tournament a year ago.

The US Open champion shared an Instagram story of herself walking onto a grass court on Sunday, writing: "First steps onto this, hello pretty." Raducanu has already committed to Wimbledon despite the tours stripping the event of ranking points and has started her preparations for a long-awaited return to her home Grand Slam tournament.

The British No 1 made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon a year ago, receiving a wildcard while ranked down at world No 338 and storming into the second week, making her the youngest British woman in the Open Era to reach the round-of-16 at the tournament. And the Bromley teenager guaranteed her return despite the ATP and WTA's recent decision to strip all ranking points on offer at Wimbledon in response to their ban on Russian and Belarusian players.

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LinkWhile last year's breakout star of the tournament thought it was "sad" that players wouldn't be awarded ranking points for their efforts, she confirmed she would play her home tournament no matter what. "I think that it's definitely a pretty sad situation for all of the players," she said of the both tours' move to