"Plenty to build on": Tim Henman backs Emma Raducanu to continue to improve during 2024 despite early Australian Open defeat

Former Britain number one Tim Henman backs young Emma Raducanu to come back after suffering an early exit from the Australian Open.

The 21-year-old, who recently returned to the court after a gap of nearly one year, lost in the second round of the first Grand Slam of the year to China’s Wang Yafan with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Henman, who played in six Grand Slam semifinals in his career but never managed to book a place in the final, was recently quoted in a report where he backed Raducanu to bounce back from the defeat as she has ‘plenty to build on’.

“I think [her] level was excellent when she won that second set to go a set all,” he said. “You thought that she’d got the momentum, but Wang is a great competitor. Emma had some physical problems. I thought the level of tennis was good. Plenty to build on.

“She’ll be disappointed that she couldn’t find a way to come through that match, but you’d like to think that if there are no injuries, then you don’t get those setbacks and she can build more momentum for the rest of the year.

“She had her blood pressure taken, so it’ll be interesting to hear how she was feeling. Maybe she’d been struggling with her breathing.”

After the match, Raducanu stated that she was struggling with illness before and during the match but never thought about retiring.

“I’ve been in that situation before in matches, whether it was with illness or injury and retired a few times, but I think with what I went through last year, it’s made me so much tougher and there was no way I was going to pull out,” she said. “She was going to have to beat me and she did but I think with all the setbacks last year it’s made me so much tougher.”