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Tim Henman believes it will be “massively challenging” for Emma Raducanu to retain her US Open title but expects his fellow Brit to have “an amazing career”.
Teenager Raducanu stormed to a remarkable maiden grand slam title last year in her first appearance at Flushing Meadows, becoming the first qualifier to achieve that feat.
The 19-year-old was the first British woman to win a major since Virginia Wade at Wimbledon in 1977, but she has not been able to claim another title since her incredible triumph in New York last September.
Raducanu has employed several coaches since her stunning US Open success and she has also had to contend with injuries, but eased to impressive wins over Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka at the Western & Southern Open last week.
The world number 11 starts the defence of her crown next week and six-time grand slam semi-finalist Henman does not envisage her going all the way once again.
“I think it’s worth saying the title is probably gonna be massively challenging,” he told Stats Perform. “But as she’s shown throughout the whole year, she’s had a lot of challenges
“She’s had plenty of adversity to deal with, but she always sort of dusts herself down and gets back up. She’s such a bright individual. She’s learning from all these experiences.
“We’ve got to remain patient, we’ve got to really give her the opportunity of not only gaining the experience, but building up the physical resilience so that she can really do herself justice at the top of the game.”
Raducanu broke records with her astonishing US Open exploits in 2021 and Henman has no doubt she can hit the heights again.
“I’m not sure many people outside the UK really knew who she was,” he added. “It was unprecedented, [it had] never happened in the history of our sport.
“To go the whole way, it was one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen in tennis. It’s been [a] sort of challenging 11 months, but I think an amazing learning curve for Emma.
“I think we’ve all got to remain patient, she’s still got a massively exciting journey ahead of her. She’s learning all the time and I’m sure she’s gonna have an amazing career in the future.
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