"I have every right to be in the position" - Emma Raducanu on feeling confident about her prospects ahead of Wimbledon return
Emma Raducanu will head to Wimbledon fresh off two grasscourt quarterfinals. Not only did she make the last-eight at both Nottingham and Eastbourne, but she also scored her first top-10 win over Jessica Pegula in the process. The Briton said she is feeling good about the prospect of returning to her home Slam after skipping the Major last year due to injury.
Speaking to The Independent in a recent interview, Raducanu exuded confidence saying she believes that she has every right to be in the position she is in as she heads to SW19. She stated that she has been training really hard to get back into form and is thus looking forward to being back in London.
“I think I should be very confident,” Emma Raducanu said. “I feel like I have every right to be in the position that I am now, because I have been training, I have been working for it. I’m looking forward to it. I’m very happy to be back in London. It’s where I call home. It’s where I missed last year so much.”
Raducanu also reflected on her performance at Eastbourne, saying she is feeling really good about how she handled her run over the course of the week.
"I wasn’t tired at all, I was feeling really good” - Emma Raducanu after her last stop before Wimbledon
In her interview with The Independent, the youngster said she was not tired physically at the Rothesay International but could have handled the circumstances during her quarterfinal against Daria Kasatkina better.
Raducanu feels that her game was “inflexible”, but reiterated that she is feeling confident ahead of Wimbledon.
“I wasn’t tired at all. I was feeling really good,” Emma Raducanu said. “I think I just dealt with the circumstances badly. Yeah, I was very inflexible in my approach. That’s my honest reflection of the match. But physically I’m in a really good spot. I’m fine."
Raducanu also claimed that she needs to be more willing to adapt to certain situations in a match and get used to the windy conditions.
“I just need to learn to be more willing to adapt," she added. "I hadn’t really played many matches in that level of wind."
Raducanu will return to Wimbledon next week after having last played at the British Slam in 2022. She did not compete in the Major last year, having undergone wrist surgeries just weeks ahead of the tournament.