‘Pain-free’ Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open joy – a year on from turning up in wheelchair

Emma Raducanu expressed her delight at being pain-free after months of injury trauma after marking her grand slam tournament return with a win.

Raducanu needed only 1hr 12min to glide into the second round of the Australian Open, thanks to a calm, composed and professional performance against world No 156 Shelby Rogers. She was never under pressure in her 6-3, 6-2 victory, which exactly matched the scoreline from her equivalent match here last year.

Yet Raducanu told reporters that she felt like a different woman 12 months on.

“Last year, I travelled here on a wheelchair,” she said, in relation to the sprained ankle that she suffered during her 2023 warm-up event in Auckland. “I only started hitting three days before the match. That whole process was a lot of stress.

“This year, there’s just a lot more calm. I think I’m more level-headed. I think things around me have settled. I do feel better, and there’s less highs and lows around. It’s more of an equilibrium.”

Rogers – a big-hitting American whom Raducanu beat on the way to the 2021 US Open title – had always looked like she would be a favourable draw. A torn abdominal muscle meant she hadn’t played a competitive match since last summer’s Wimbledon.

Admittedly, Raducanu was in a similar boat, after the multiple operations that blighted her 2023 season. But she had at least enjoyed a sighter in Auckland a fortnight ago, where she beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse and then put up a sterling fight against Elina Svitolina.

This may explain why Raducanu was the more settled player from the start, finding her rhythm on serve and defending well from a deep position behind the baseline. She settled for big targets and steady rallies, knowing that Rogers – who racked up 35 unforced errors at a rate of just over two per game – would be missing the court sooner or later.

On a balmy evening in Melbourne, every seat was taken on the 1573 Arena, yet the crowd did not have a great deal to get into. They offered polite applause for Raducanu’s polished match-management, and watched the sun set behind the skyscrapers of Melbourne’s city centre. The loudest cheer of the evening came when a ball girl finally managed to snare a pesky cricket that was leaping around the court.

For Raducanu, it must have felt like a gentle training exercise. But she is so delighted to be back on the tour after her many travails that she clearly relished her victory. After clinching her first match point with a classic serve/forehand combo, she didn’t rush off the court, but performed a slow lap of honour while she signed autographs. One fortunate super-fan received her Australian Open towel.

“I gave the towel to Mark,” Raducanu explained later. “He was actually there every round at US Open, the one I won. I didn’t know he was here. I just saw him in the crowd. He’s very vocal. It was actually great to have him there to get me through. He’s very passionate and enthusiastic [and] it was his birthday.”

In general, the evening could hardly have passed off more smoothly, even if Raducanu admitted afterwards that she had suffered from butterflies in the build-up. “First round I am always pretty nervous,” she said, “just like anyone in the draw. I don’t think the tennis was the prettiest to be honest. In those conditions, it was very hard to play perfect tennis. It was just about managing the situation and dealing with the conditions, and I think I did that in the crucial moments pretty well.”

‘It’s amazing to be pain-free’

Raducanu smiled her way through her media duties, and looked particularly serene when was asked about the condition of her wrists [which both underwent operations in May to remove bony spurs known as carpal bosses].

“It’s amazing to be pain-free with the wrists,” she said. “I honestly didn’t know if I’d ever get to this stage. I had pain for so long, since before the US swing in 2022 all the way until surgery. It was difficult because I wasn’t able to train, I wasn’t able to practise. Then having to compete against the best in the world is very difficult. You can’t even say ‘I know I’m doing the work, it will pay off,’ because I wasn’t doing any.

“I think the time away made me very hungry,” Raducanu added. “I have been doing my rehab religiously every single day. Shout-out to Millie [Lawn Tennis Association physiotherapist Milena Mirkovic], who is on me like a hawk. Yeah, it’s paid off. I don’t have any fear or any restrictions on anything. I’ve passed all the return-to-play markers. My grip strength is higher than ever. It’s just about continuing doing the boring rehab. Yeah, hopefully I’ll be in good shape.”

Even if there wasn’t much intensity about Raducanu’s opening match, she has at least pushed through without any concerns. And her second-round opponent turns out to be an unexpected one, after 22nd seed Sorana Cirstea was eliminated by China’s Yafan Wang.

A clean first-up performance, and a second-round meeting with a player ranked No 94 in the world. It’s no wonder Raducanu is smiling.

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