Emma Raducanu to keep ‘provoking and asking questions’ of coaches on her return

Emma Raducanu has confirmed she hopes to return to competitive action in time for the start of the new tennis season.

The 2021 US open champion has been sidelined for six months having undergone surgery on both wrists and her ankle after successive injury setbacks.

The 20-year-old told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme that she had not set a date for her WTA Tour return, but would “be back for the start of this season for sure”.

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Raducanu, who has slipped to 280 in the world rankings from a career-high number 10, said: “I will be coming back with probably a lower ranking, but I’m actually looking forward to starting again, kind of resetting.

“I already have that in the bank, so now I can keep going and keep building from here. I still have new goals, new things I want to achieve.

“But I’ve still got like 15 years left in my career, so there’s no rush.”

Raducanu has not confirmed who will coach her when she returns to the tour having gone through five different coaches in just over two years.

She believes her inquisitiveness could have been an issue for some of them.

She added: “I ask my coaches a lot of questions. On certain occasions they haven’t been able to keep up with the questions I’ve asked so maybe that’s why it ended.

“It’s something I’ve always done. I keep provoking and asking questions to coaches and challenging their thinking as well.

“I’m not someone that you can just tell me what do and I’ll do it, I need to understand why and then I’ll do it.”