Emma Raducanu has been told she must improve physically by Tim Henman who described it as a “glaring area” in her game.
Raducanu was eliminated in the Round of 32 at Indian Wells in comfortable fashion by world No 6 Amanda Anisimova, who lost just two games in a straight-sets victory, and while it has been a positive 12 months for the Briton, she remains a way off the top of the women’s game.
As to how she can close the gap, Henman suggested her physicality needed to be improved so she can avoid small injuries.
“For me, the glaring area that she needs to improve on is physically,” he said on Sky Sports. “It was highlighted in her match against Anisimova.
“She’s never going to be as big a ball striker as Anisimova, and the physicality that she brings to the court is obviously intimidating, as these top players are, but that’s where I think Raducanu needs to be physically stronger.
“She needs more physical resilience, so she doesn’t get the little injuries that put her away from the court. They stop her building the momentum on the match court.
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“Off the court, mainly, but again, you can still do a lot of physical work on the court. Whether it’s two on one when you’re hitting and moving and building up that physical resilience, to get stronger, to get faster, to hit the ball harder, to serve bigger. If I could pinpoint one area, it would most definitely be physicalness.”
Henman was joined in the broadcast by former world No 1 Martina Navratilova, who said any player can hit the ball hard once in a while, but the best of the best consistently do it.
“You can hit the ball harder once in a while, but if you’re not strong enough, you can’t maintain it,” the 18-time singles champion said. “So it’s not hitting it harder all the time, but being able to sustain it, and the harder you can hit it with less effort, the more control you have.
“And then you save the body, because the muscles are doing the work instead of the joints.”
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