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Raducanu's unexpected charge to the fourth round made her front
page news but the teenager then retired mid-match with
"breathing difficulties" in something of an anti-climax.
Many expected her to disappear as quickly as she had appeared -
just the latest in a painfully long line of British women
failing to even challenge for the Venus Rosewater Dish last
lifted by Virginia Wade in 1977, let alone win it.
Two months later, however, Raducanu had blasted herself into the
consciousness of the world way beyond tennis, astonishingly
winning the U.S. Open as a 150th-ranked qualifier - without
dropping a set - in an achievement widely and rightly ranked
among the absolute peaks of any other sport.
Her fearless free hitting and apparent lack of nerves won her
legions of sporting admirers, while her fresh-faced smiling,
charm, relaxed, modest conversation and
Anglo-Canadian/Chinese/Romanian heritage produced an instant
queue of high-end sponsors eager to align with the exciting
youngster.
It was no surprise that Raducanu failed to back up that victory
with more success, but few would have expected her to struggle
so much to find consistency the following year.
Amid a succession of injuries, together with regular changes of
coach, she has failed to win more than two back-to-back matches
in any tournament.
Raducanu has said she struggled to adjust to the physical
demands of the intensity of the WTA Tour and feels the time lost
during COVID hampered her physical development. As always,
however, she looked for the positives as Wimbledon draws into
view.
'CRAZY YEAR'
"It's been a crazy year that's for sure," she said. "I'm
definitely proud of the year I've had and I've learned a lot.
"Of course, I wouldn't change that trajectory but it means I
need to be patient with my body. Obviously there have been
challenges as well but I think I have learned how to deal with
setbacks well and also how to manage my time a bit better," said
the Briton who was beaten in the second round at this year's
Australia and French Opens.
She has suffered from blisters on her racket hand and her feet,
a hip injury plus back pain and withdrew from her opening round
match in the Nottingham grass tournament this month due to a
side strain. That also ruled her out of the Birmingham and
Eastbourne warm-up events, giving her a total of seven games in
35 minutes of grass court play this year.
Consequently Raducanu will arrive at Wimbledon as the
ludicrously under-prepared number 10 seed - with packed Centre
Court crowds and the nation's armchair fans oozing a level of
expectation already at Andy Murray proportions.
Potentially more problematic for Raducanu's prospects of again
making the second week, though, is that she is no longer the new
girl on the Tour.
"She set the bar pretty high. She's won the U.S Open already, so
everybody's after her," said former British number one John
Lloyd. "The other players have learnt about her, coaches have
taught them how to play against her.
"It may be tough but from what I've seen and from what people
have told me about her I don't think she'll be a one-slam
wonder."
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, aditional reporting by Sudipto
Ganguly, editing by Ken Ferris)
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