“It is a hurdle, but one that Raducanu is well equipped to overcome and she has time on her side” – Konta

Former British No 1 Johanna Konta believes that countrywoman Emma Raducanu will bounce back from her recent surgeries which will keep the 20-year-old away from the French Open and Wimbledon.

Raducanu announced earlier this month that she underwent surgery on both her wrists and one of her ankles and is expected to undergo another surgery in a few weeks.

Despite the setback, Konta, who reached the semi-finals of three of the four Majors during her career, believes that Raducanu has age on her side and will bounce back from the latest hurdle.

“Overall, I can imagine that this surgery wasn’t a surprise for Emma,” Konta told Sky Sports. “She’s probably had enough time to work up her feelings and go through everything in her head so now it’s going to be the big recovery process. I don’t think it would have been a shock to her which is why she seems in decent spirits.”

“I don’t think her age is a worry. Because she is 20, she’s got a long time because she’s at the early stages of her career. She’s going to have enough time to keep building up her body, keep building up her strength. Obviously, you don’t want to be young and having surgery. However, there have been a lot of athletes throughout history that have had surgery young and they still come back stronger, come back better and do brilliant things in the sport. It is a hurdle, but one that she is well equipped to overcome and she has time on her side.”

Konta, who retired from the sport in 2021 due to a long-term knee injury, also opines that Raducanu will try and come back as soon as she can but knows it will be a process before the former US Open champion can get back to the tour.

“It’s definitely going to be a process. I think her team are going to be managing her load and seeing how much load she is going to take. This spot now is going to be a nice time to start again and now it will be about not loading her too quickly. If you rush the recovery process with anything nine times out of 10 it doesn’t end well,” Konta added.

“I think she will want to get back on court as soon as she can and if she can come back for the US Open, she will. Whether her body will allow that and whether her rehab course will allow that, I think that will remain to be seen. I think as a player you want to come back as soon as possible. You want to put in the work to be able to be back on tour, playing tournaments. That’s where you want to be so I don’t think she will be taking any extra time out just for the sake of it.”

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