According to what was revealed by the BBC, the young British tennis player refused a wildcard for the Olympic competition to better prepare for the American hard court season
The Paris 2024 Olympics are now ever closer, and each national team is gradually defining the athletes who will represent the country during the Olympic event. It is not excluded Great Britainwhich recently announced the official team for the tennis tournament, which will be played between 27 July and 4 August 2024. In the men’s category, the qualifiers via the ATP ranking are Cameron NorrieJack DraperDan Evans and two-time Olympic champion Andy Murraywhile in the women’s category there will only be Katie Boulter. The news these days, however, is the lack of participation of Emma Raducanu, who despite not being able to participate in terms of ranking, also refused a wildcard to participate in the Olympic tournament. The reason is to be found in the calendar, which sees the Olympics immediately after the grass season and just before the American hard court season which will culminate with the US Open.
He also expressed himself on the matter Ian Bates, head of the British Olympic tennis team, who said he fully agreed with Raducanu’s choice. “I’ve had several conversations with Emma over the last couple of weeks, and it’s very clear how much it would mean to her to be part of a British team at the Olympics. For her, however, I believe that this is not the right time, hopefully she has many Olympics ahead of her. I’m very comfortable with the decision she made“.
The young British tennis player in fact skipped the entire clay court season – with the exception of the matches played in the Billie Jean King Cup in mid-April – to better prepare for her grass-court commitments. It arrived during the day defeat in the semifinals at the WTA 250 in Nottingham, at the end of a three-hour battle against Katie Boulter with the score of 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. It therefore seems clear that at this moment the main objective for Raducanu is to return to competing at good levels and continuously in the WTA circuit, as well as climbing the rankings again to be able to participate in the main tournaments without having to ask for wildcards. From tomorrow he will be at position number 165 in the world rankingwith the good news for her that she has no points to defend between now and the end of the season, since last year her last appearance on the circuit was the Madrid tournament before the surgery and the long rehabilitation period.
