“I thrive in Asia. It’s where I truly feel like home” – Raducanu goes heavy on Asian swing

Emma Raducanu received a lot of criticism for her scheduling choices during the American summer hardcourt stretch. The former US Open champion, herself, admitted that she may have to rethink her choices for next year after going down in the first round at Flushing Meadows this year.

The 21-year-old is now making a big push in the fall indoor swing as she plans to compete in three events in Asia, where she says she feels like home.

“I always knew there was a really long block in Asia at the end of the year and I didn’t want to overdo myself in the first half of the year,” Raducanu told the WTA Insider podcast. “If you look at the tournaments I played it was relatively light. I skipped quite a few weeks over the clay knowing that I’m at the stage where I’m not trying to win every event on the clay, on the grass and hard.”

“I have to prioritize and Asia was one of those for me. So I stacked the year on the backend heavy, because I’m excited. I thrive in Asia. It’s where I truly feel like home. So I’m buzzing for that trip even though it’s at the end of the year. I’m looking forward to going out there and trying to take it.”

Raducanu is currently in Seoul where she is through to the quarter-finals and will then head to Beijing and Wuhan for WTA 1000 Series events there.

The Brit, whose mother is Chinese and also speaks Mandarin, said her love for Asia fuels her during her matches as well.

“In my match, no matter how bad I was playing, I just wanted to keep playing here because I like it. Korean food is my favorite, nonstop, over anything, so I’ve really just been enjoying my time here,” she said. “Playing in China, I’ve never done that, so that’s going to be a first for me. I feel pretty comfortable in this environment, which is an advantage. I just want to play as much as I can.” 

Me and my coach decided we were going to take a risk and we were going to tweak things.

Emma Raducanu on her serve

The Brit also spoke about the work she has been doing with her team on her serve and hopes that it will pay off in the long run.

“If you watch my serve over the past few months, since the clay season it’s gone through a lot of iterations in terms of swing,” she said as quoted by the WTA Tour. “In general, if you play a lot of tournaments, things move out of place without you really realising, and then it’s harder to get the natural feeling back. We’ve been working hard the last week looking at the swing, and which swing suits me best. It’s been pretty big changes, it’s not like we’re just changing the ball placement.”

“Me and my coach decided we were going to take a risk and we were going to tweak things. We know it might not pay off short-term. But one thing I do back myself on is I pick things up pretty quickly. In the first match it didn’t transfer yet, but today it definitely did. I just have to think bigger-picture. My goals are finishing this season strong but inevitably to set myself up in the best way possible for next year, because next year I really want to hit the ground running.”

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