Emma Raducanu confirms she feels physically well ahead of the Ningbo Open and claims her intention is to push herself physically this week.
So far, it has been a subpar Asian swing for the 2021 US Open champion. In her opening two tournaments in Seoul and Beijing, the British tennis player blew match points in back-to-back defeats to Barbora Krejcikova and Jessica Pegula. The Wuhan Open didn't bring anything positive either as the world No. 29 felt unwell in tricky conditions and retired during her opening match against Ann Li.
Last year, Raducanu was signed up for the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo, but didn't compete due to an injury. But this time, the 22-year-old is healthy and ready to make her maiden appearance at the Chinese WTA 500 tournament.
Raducanu aims to push herself harder physically
I think it's a special feeling. I feel very comfortable, I feel like I get amazing support here, which is so nice. I love how invested the Chinese fans are and how much support they give. I think where its different is just, its at the end of the season, so you need to push harder physically, youre feeling it a bit more, and mentally as well, to just focus. Thats probably the biggest difference," the 2021 US Open champion.
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In the Ningbo first round, the British tennis player will play against world No. 219 Zhu Lin. They have no previous meetings.
Since Ningbo is a tournament from the WTA 500 category and Raducanu doesn't have any points to defend for the rest of the year, it is a good opportunity for the Briton to collect some points and continue her ranking rise.
It remains to be seen how well the 2021 US Open winnercan do in Ningbo.
