Emma Raducanu’s ‘big goal’ for grass court season predicted by former British No 1

Emma Raducanu’s main goal this summer will be to “stay healthy,” according to former British No 1 and world No 4 Johanna Konta.

After returning to action at the beginning of the year, Raducanu skipped a large part of the clay court season – including the French Open – to prioritize a strong grass campaign.

So far that approach has paid off for the 2021 US Open champion, who is into the first WTA-level quarter-final on the surface at the WTA 250 Nottingham Open.

The Brit defeated qualifier Ena Shibahara in her opening round match on Tuesday before another straight-sets win over Daria Snigur fired her into the last eight.

Currently ranked world No 209, the 21-year-old is projected to jump back inside the top 200 of the WTA Rankings next week , with a further rise possible should she extend her Nottingham run.

With no points to defend anywhere on grass this summer or beyond, she could soar up the rankings over the rest of the season.

But Konta , a former Nottingham champion and Wimbledon semi-finalist believes Raducanu will not be focusing on rankings – and instead focus on fitness.

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The three-time Grand Slam semi-finalist also urged Raducanu, and all British players on tour, to also remember to embrace home advantage.

“I mean I would imagine for her, she would be looking to stay healthy physically, to play a lot of matches,” said Konta, speaking at a special ‘Pickleball Slam’ event in Kingston-upon-Thames.

“That will be a big goal of hers. I think for her it will be more than just the grass, it will be to stay healthy into the US swing.

“She obviously will have incredible memories from the US hard court swing, so I think in general just for her to stay healthy for the rest of this year and get as many matches as possible.

“She’s not British No 1 right now, that’s Katie Boulter. Katie Boulter’s been doing really well with how well she’s been doing this year.

“Obviously, Emma will have the spotlight on her because of her US Open achievement, which was incredible.

“To be honest, I don’t know what it’s like to be Emma Raducanu, nor do I know what it’s like to be Katie Boulter. But I think both women and all the British girls are quite well versed in this part of the year and think they enjoy it.

“They enjoy this part of the year for what it is. You get to be at home, play in front of a home crowd and get home comforts – there’s a lot to enjoy as a British player during the grass court summer.”

Raducanu and Boulter are among a growing pack of WTA British players looking to make their mark this summer, with Harriet Dart, Heather Watson, and Francesca Jones also in action in Nottingham this week.

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And, in what could be an intense part of the year for them, Konta believes that they will be all focusing on individual goals – and not bowing to any pressure put on them.

She added: “I think this concept of all this pressure on one player or all these players, that’s completely media posed. That is not something that players will talk about among themselves, you know: ‘Oh, who’s got the pressure now?’

“That is something that journalists talk about and newspapers talk about, I highly doubt that any of the players will be looking into and buying into it, because they are all going into this period just trying to do their best, working hard to stay healthy, to play their best tennis, and just enjoy this time of the year.

“It’s a really fun time of the year to be a British player. They’ll be managing themselves and they’ll be managing their own nerves for their own desires of what they want from this time of the year.”

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