Emma Raducanu has revealed she takes inspiration from “places that you wouldn’t necessarily think are obvious” as she trains to make her return to tennis.
The 20-year-old explained she is primarily inspired by books and enjoys reading about history, including the different Chinese dynasties.
Raducanu was born in Toronto to a Chinese mother and a Romanian father and is fluent in both Mandarin and Romanian. In a 2021 interview with British Vogue, she said: “I think the confidence comes from just inner belief.
“My mum comes from a Chinese background, they have very good self-belief. It’s not necessarily about telling everyone how good you are, but it’s about believing it within yourself. I really respect that about the culture.”
The 2021 US Open winner has missed most of this year due to injury and underwent surgery on both her wrists and her ankle in May. She has played just 10 matches across five tournaments so far in 2023 and holds a 5-5 record.
Raducanu suffered an ankle injury which forced her to retire during her second round match in Auckland in January in her first event of the year. She then lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Coco Gauff, before next competing in Indian Wells almost two months later.
The Brit achieved her best result of 2023 in Indian Wells by winning three matches to reach the last 16, where she was beaten by Iga Swiatek. The 20-year-old was then beaten in the opening round in Miami to Bianca Andreescu, before losing to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart in April in her last match.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today on Friday, Raducanu stressed that she has plenty of times to achieve her ambitions when she makes her tennis comeback given her age.
“I will be coming back with a lower ranking but I’m looking forward to starting again, resetting. I still have new goals, new things I want to achieve but I’ve still got 15 years in my career so there is no rush,” recognized the current world No 280.
“Throughout my career I’ve had setbacks. I take most of my inspiration from books. I read a lot. I read certain history, like Chinese history about the different dynasties. I just take inspiration from places that you wouldn’t necessarily think are obvious.”
It has been announced that Raducanu is planning to make her comeback at the Macau Tennis Masters exhibition event in the opening week of December.
The tournament is hosted by IMG, who manage Raducanu’s commercial contracts, with Belinda Bencic, Taylor Fritz, and Frances Tiafoe among other star names confirmed to be on the entry list.
