"Both of them were playing top 10 level": Emma Raducanu heavily backed for superb comeback season after Svitolina loss in Auckland

Emma Raducanu suffered a narrow defeat against world No. 25 Elina Svitolina (7-6, 6-7, 1-6) at the ASB Classic, leaving positive impressions for the 2024 season. The British player returned to the courts after 9 months and displayed a strong performance in her victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round (6-3, 4-6, 7-5).

Former British player Naomi Broady shared her thoughts on Raducanu's performance in her initial matches. Despite the loss to Svitolina, Broady emphasized that Raducanu already exhibits the competitive level of a top-10 player: "Loads of positives to take. Both of them played above their rankings."

Speaking on SkySports, Broady mentioned that the 2021 US Open champion may have pushed herself too hard physically towards the end of the match but can continue improving throughout the season: "For Raducanu, it was the second match she’s played in eight months, first tournament back, and her first match was tough as well. I think it was maybe just a step too far physically, but both of them were playing top 10 level today."

“To come back and be playing at that sort of level should give her so much encouragement and I really hope she takes more positives than negatives from this experience. If she can play that well against a player of Svitolina’s quality, then this could be a really exciting year for Raducanu.”

“It’s a tough question. I know her personal goals are to just stay fit and healthy at the moment. She was holding her back towards the end of the match and she had a lot of tape on her thigh today and she didn’t have that in her first round match,” the 33-year-old said.

“But tennis is just such a gruelling sport physically, isn’t it? There’s not many other sports that you would play for so many hours, consecutive days in a week, week after week for 11 months of the year,” she added.

“[She had] two gruelling matches, so for her it’s gonna be about staying fit and healthy and then maybe after this Australian swing, looking to start going deeper back in the tournaments again,” Broady concluded.

Raducanu's next challenge is the Australian Open, where recent withdrawals allowed her to enter the main draw without going through the qualifying stage.