Emma Raducanu practiced at Melbourne Park on Monday but appeared to be very cautious and not moving too much.
I was lucky to be the only person watching and filming Emma. #RaducanoFirst practice session since he sprained his ankle.
Here a bit of the beginning. If you want me to post clips from the whole session later, please follow or retweet me. 馃幘馃憤 #AO2023 #Australian Open #WTA pic.twitter.com/atavgbc0k8 鈥擳odd Scoullar (@ToddScoullar) January 9, 2023
Backhand from the baseline.
Do not bring the hip in at all to avoid landing on the ankle. pic.twitter.com/AAHIAv7ZIl 鈥擳odd Scoullar (@ToddScoullar) January 9, 2023
On Thursday, Raducanu sprained his ankle at the ASB Classic in Auckland. Although Raducanu left the court on tour and visibly dejected, she decided to go to Melbourne and give herself a chance to compete at the Australian Open.
At the beginning of this week, Raducanu practiced very lightly. According to Todd Scoullar, who was on the scene, the bandage on Raducanu’s ankle was 芦pretty insignificant.禄 Additionally, Scoulllar noted that although Raducanu seemed obviously uncomfortable, she refused to end their practice session early.
The positives for Emma:
– She is on the court
– You have a full week to recover.
– At one point, the team wanted to stop, but she asked to finish the basket of balls.
– The strapping was pretty insignificant.
– While in obvious discomfort, at no point did he have to stop.鈥擳odd Scoullar (@ToddScoullar) January 9, 2023
Raducanu has a week to recover
After Raducanu suffered an ankle injury, his team hoped it was just a minor sprain. Given that Raducanu is in Melbourne and has had little practice already, it’s definitely a promising sign that his recovery is headed in the right direction.
But even if Raducanu manages to play at the Australian Open, it would be hard to imagine her in her prime as she definitely won’t have a week of tough practice sessions in Melbourne. In the offseason, Raducanu spent numerous hours in the gym, working to get stronger.
After all the exertion of the offseason, it was absolutely devastating for Raducanu to suffer an injury in his first tournament of the year. However, Raducanu is trying to keep a positive spirit and take 芦one day at a time.禄
芦That [the injury] It was really unfortunate because I felt very good with my season, I felt very good with the preparation that I did physically. And I just had an accident on the court, I don’t know what I could have done to prevent that.
I’m only taking it one day at a time and just trying every day to the best of my ability to see and progress. Hopefully come Monday or when the tournament starts I’ll be good and ready. We’re just taking it one day at a time and we’re not trying to wait too long right now,禄 Raducanu said.
