Emma Raducanu plummeted down the rankings following her first round loss at this year’s US Open. Having reached a career high of number 10 last summer and spending the better part of the past year inside the top 15, the teen fell outside the top 80.
As the Brit bids to ascend the rankings once again, Raducanu reached the round of 16 in Slovenia last week and on Friday she will play Magda Linette in the quarter-finals of the Korea Open. Should the Bromley local emerge victorious, she will record three consecutive wins for the first time since her historic win in New York last September.
A victory will mark the first time Raducanu has reached the last four of any event since the 2021 US Open. Since winning the American grand slam without dropping a set in just her second appearance at a major, Raducanu became a global superstar overnight.
Following her success she graced the red carpet at the Met Gala and became an ambassador for a number of top brands. While she thrived off the court, the 19-year-old struggled on it following her triumph as the pressure and expectation on her ramped up.
Throughout the past year Raducanu’s form dipped as she did not make it past the second round of any of the Grand Slam tournaments. She has also succumbed to multiple recurring injury niggles as she adjusts to life on the demanding WTA tour.
While competing in Seoul, Raducanu has insisted her main aim in the competition is to become more relaxed when competing. She has been also working extensively with her new coach Dmitry Tursunov to make herself more durable for long runs into the latter stages of competitions.
"My goal on the court is to keep trying to swing freer and freer in each match,” she told reporters on Wednesday. “My other goal is to try and stay in Korea for as long as possible.
"I have definitely done more since starting with Dmitry," she added. "I have done a lot more hours, and that's something he and the other people in my team think is quite necessary, and myself included, just getting more robust, so long matches, or matches in a row, don't affect me.
"And I think also just not trying to over-complicate things for myself, he's helping with that, because sometimes I enjoy doing that, thinking of the worst possible outcome, and just over-thinking it. So he's also trying to help me become more easy-going."
