Molehill
International Captain
Clay is such a ****er of a surface and completely alien to everything else. I totally get why she'd withdraw, would completely screw up your prep for the US Open when you're in the middle of hard court season.I was probably unfair on Raducanu.
Obviously I don't know what exactly is driving the decision making process.
She's expressly said that it's not her being a "diva" lol. That is the concern I suppose for me as so many things kind of give that impression with not very much contradicting it, but she can't be expected to make decisions based on that perception.
As I understand it the reason for the withdrawals were a combination of match ups, working on changing her serve, changed strategy over surfaces, and likely protecting her body with a gradual return to competitive tennis.
I don't believe she has had any specific injuries as such this year. It's quite easy to tell with Emma because she parades them around court like a flashing sign, and she's evasive on interviews when there's an issue (rather than making flat out statements as she has done with her wrists). Also she was practising on hard courts when she withdrew from the French Open.
It seems the strategy is to have consistent runs on grass and hard, possibly avoid clay for some reason, take things steady, and target ranking points where she can.
Up to her, and maybe she can steal a few ranking points while everyone else is at the Olympics.
Maybe it's a bit misogynistic of me criticising her drive and professionalism. Obviously she has a belief in where she's going and how she's going to get there, and fair play to her for that.
I doubt she's the only one who will be skipping the Olympics.
