Emma Raducanu in 2025: How 'physical resilience' can make push for top-30 return a realistic goal

25 November 2024, 12:17 | Updated: 25 November 2024, 14:16

Emma Raducanu moving back inside the world’s top 30 is a “completely realistic” target in 2025 if she can stay injury-free, according to former British No 1 Tim Henman.

Raducanu started 2024 outside of the world's top 300 after undergoing surgery on both of her wrists and her left ankle the previous year, but ended the campaign inside the top-60 despite another injury-plagued season.

The former US Open champion won 20 of her 33 matches in 2024, where she was sidelined with a foot injury for two months before making a winning return at the Billie Jean King Cup finals.

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Raducanu said after representing Great Britain that she is "excited and itching" for 2025, with Henman hoping to see the 22-year-old stay fit and play a full WTA Tour schedule next season.

"I think the challenge for Raducanu is around physical resilience," Henman told the Sky Sports Tennis podcast.

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"You talk about Katie Boulter and all the improvements that she made. Yes, she has got better as a tennis player, her movement has improved, but it's also the resilience to be able to play that full schedule.

"You saw Katie at the end of the year playing four or five tournaments in a row. She made a final in Hong Kong, at the last event of the year and finished in the top 25.

"Raducanu has had a decent year going from sort of 300 into the top 60 but, when you look at the amount of tennis she's played, she hasn't played a great deal. If she builds up that resilience, every time she steps on the court, she was playing good tennis.

"Therefore, top 50, top 30 in 2025, I think is completely realistic."

Grand Slam run the next target for Boulter?

Boulter claimed her first WTA 500 title with victory at the San Diego Open earlier in the year and retained her Nottingham Open title in the summer, having beaten Raducanu in the semi-finals, then reached a career-high in the WTA rankings after her run to the Hong Kong Open final.

The 28-year-old has still yet to progress beyond the third round of a Grand Slam and failed to get beyond the second round in any of the four majors this season, something Boulter will look to change in 2025.

"You still watch her and think there's room for more improvement," Henman added. She has played so well, competed so often to build that resilience and the match count.

"That [a Grand Slam run] takes, you know, your game and your stature within the sport to a different level and that's definitely what I'd like to see from Katie Boulter in 2025."

On where Boulter has impressed in 2024, Sky Sports Tennis commentator Jonathan Overend said: "I've been so impressed about how her game has moved on. Her movement has improved, her defensive skills have improved. Maybe she hasn't truly believed that she can do that in the past.

"The mentality has perhaps switched this year. But to see her getting balls out of the corners and scrambling across the other corner has been so great, because we know she can then finish the point with a big ground stroke. Her all-round game has come on leaps and bounds."

What else is on the podcast?

The latest podcast sees Henman, Overend and Laura Robson join Gigi Salmon to look back at the highs and lows from British players over the past season, including extra reflections on Sir Andy Murray calling time on his brilliant career.

Robson explains why she feels the 'sky is the limit' for Jack Draper after an impressive campaign, with the team also looking back at Dan Evans' 2024 and some other notable performances from Britain's new wave of tennis stars.

Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.