Emma Raducanu, free of the injuries that derailed her 2023 season, is overjoyed to be back in the winners’ circle at a Grand Slam.
“The time away made me very hungry,” said the Brit, who is grateful to be contesting her first major since last year’s Australian Open. “I'm just happy to be healthy again and pain-free.”
DRAW: Australian Open 2024 women’s singles
By dispatching America’s Shelby Rogers 6-3 6-2 in windy conditions on Tuesday, the 21-year-old maintained her unbeaten streak in the round of 128 at Melbourne Park. It’s a scoreline akin to the 6-2 6-1 victory she posted over Rogers en route to her history-making 2021 US Open title.
“I'm very happy to have come through that…being my first slam match back, it is definitely a little bit extra sweet,” said Raducanu, who had surgery on both wrists and one ankle last year.
“When you come back after eight months [and] have experienced three surgeries, you're just really grateful to be able to move freely,” she said. “It’s just amazing to be playing pain-free.”
Raducanu never faced break point against Rogers at 1573 Arena, the same court where the Brit earned a win at AO 2023 barely two weeks after having a cyst removed from her knee and travelling to the tournament in a wheelchair.
“At tournaments, you have certain affinities with a specific court… for me here, 1573 is definitely one where I feel very comfortable,” she said.
In the 12 months between matches on that court, Raducanu says she’s become more unflappable.
“There's just a lot more calm… I'm more level-headed,” she explained. “Things around me have settled…there's less highs and lows around, it’s just more of an equilibrium.”
Raducanu, who handed an AO towel to a fan who was present for every match during her US Open run, described her fanbase in Melbourne as “incredible.”
“I was a little bit taken aback by just the support straight when I walked out, I think it was better than any year I've really had before here,” she said. It was just amazing to see all the signs, hear the support…I was very happy to be able to play in those sort of circumstances again.”
“I was loving every second of it, it really pushes you through in those tight moments,” Raducanu told Eurosport.
The right-hander resisted making any grand proclamations about her AO 2024 campaign, but says she feels happier and “a lot lighter” than she has in the past and believes she can reproduce her best tennis this year.
“I feel like I’m not playing with a backpack of rocks,” the Brit said before the tournament.”
“Success to me in the long-term is, for the rest of the year, to play a full season, to be healthy throughout, to be able to train consistent weeks,” said Raducanu.
“I know my level is there, I just need to keep working on it to make it more consistent [and] I think that will come with time in the gym, time on court, being able to play the calendar, not thinking about, ‘Will I have to pull out from this one?’ [or] ‘Does that hurt?’”
“My level, to be honest, is just too good not to come through if I put consistent work together.”
In the second round on Thursday, Raducanu takes on China’s Yafan Wang, in what will be the pair’s first meeting. Regardless of how close that battle is, the right-hander said she’s learned how to keep her cool.
“I've been in situations serving out the US Open… probably the most high-pressure scenarios you'll ever get,” said the world No.296, who is competing at AO 2024 using a protected ranking.
“The more matches you play, the more comfortable you feel in those scenarios because the more experiences you have to anchor and pull back your feelings from.”