Andy Murray’s former coach Mark Petchey has called on Emma Raducanu to play through the pain barrier after another injury setback before the Australian Open.
The 22-year-old pulled out of the Auckland International at the end of December after she suffered a back spasm when bending over to tie her shoelace.
Raducanu is entering the first Grand Slam of the year without any match preparation as a result, with her woes compounded after being bitten by an insect that led to her ankle swelling up.
However, she refused to use any antiseptic spray for fear of failing a drug test before the Australian Open, following recent high-profile cases involving Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek.
Raducanu has struggled to maintain any sort of consistency in terms of playing matches ever since she returned to the court following surgeries on both wrists and her ankle. But Petchey believes that time on the court must be made a top priority – even if that means playing while injured.
“I hope for Emma’s sake that she can play the next six months without missing a tournament, whether she’s hurt or not,” Petchey told JeffBet.
“I think that she needs to kind of go across the Rubicon and play every week, regardless of how she feels, regardless of the outcome of the result, regardless if she loses one on one.
I think she just needs to go and play and get over that because I think there is a chance that it could morph into something a little bit more serious on that scale. I think that there’s a very real need to just play.
“I know that some of the results may not be great and if she’s obviously significantly injured, there’s a chance of doing some real damage to her body. Then obviously she has to pull the rip cord.
“My advice would be to just go and play and see what you’re capable of because she’s capable of great things and even if she’s not at 100 per cent, I think she’s still capable of going very deep in a lot of these tournaments.
Raducanu hired renowned fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura in December last month in her bid to become one of the top athletes on tour.
And she claims to be ready to take on Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round in Melbourne, despite a lack of match practice.
“I feel good. I feel healthy and feel I’ve been training well. I’m prepared and ready to go,” said Raducanu in her pre-tournament press conference.
“I think I can be a dangerous opponent for anyone really. You have to kind of have that belief as a player. It’s not really worth going on court if you don’t believe you can win.
