Will Emma Raducanu win her next Grand Slam in 2025?

Emma Raducanu’s fairytale run to the 2021 US Open title has begun to feel like forever ago. The Briton has shown flashes of her best tennis in recent times but consistency has eluded her. So, it begs the question: When will Raducanu win her next Grand Slam?

The 2024 season has been modest-at-best for Raducanu but it has been an important one. The youngster could not do too much with a big spotlight on her in 2022 and was sidelined for much of 2023 after undergoing wrist surgery.

Injuries, lay-offs and comebacks were a part of this year as well, but the Briton did not have a scare as big as some of the hurdles faced last year. And then there were some significant milestones.

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Emma Raducanu's modest-at-best 2024 season

For someone who has won a Grand Slam, it is baffling that Emma Raducanu had never beaten a top-10 player in her career at the start of this year. But now, she has two scalps to her name.

Raducanu’s biggest results this season came on grass, with her reaching the Nottingham semifinals as well as the Wimbledon fourth-round. It was at the latter that she beat a top-10 player, Maria Sakkari, for the first time. She had earlier scored her maiden top-10 win over Jessica Pegula, also on grass.

All said and done, the question remains. Could Raducanu be seen lifting another Grand Slam trophy when the next cycle begins in just over a month’s time?

While there is no reason to underestimate the youngster’s potential, it is a little unfair to put her in the contenders’ list again just yet.

Consider this: barring the Wimbledon Championships this season, she has not been able to cross the second-round hurdle at any other Grand Slam in the last three years. In fact, her win-loss at Grand Slams (barring the 2024 Wimbledon Championship) complies at a dismal 5-7 record.

Emma Raducanu has had her fair share of troubles with injuries. (Source: Getty)

The Briton’s contemporaries, Coco Gauff and even the likes of Zheng Qinwen, have begun to eat into the space that she once occupied as Grand Slam winner from the newer crop of players. The youngster definitely has the game to beat the best, but her appeal is fading.

A big part of Emma Raducanu’s dream run at the 2021 US Open was made possible because of others’ lack of familiarity with her. She had hardly been on Tour, was playing qualifiers in the lead-up to the US Open but still somehow found a way to hold a Grand Slam trophy.

In a world rich with data analytics, sustaining novelty or surprise in one’s game is hard to come by. Raducanu too fell victim to the same problem as opponents began to read her game a lot more easily.

And between spending time at the hospital and rehabs, Raudcanu has had very little time to try and find a way to reinvent her game as much as she would like. When she’s back in the hunt in 2025, things will need to change drastically.

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What's ahead for Emma Raducanu in 2025?

Eama Raducanu at the 2024 US Open. (Source: Getty)

Australia has never been a happy hunting ground for Emma Raducanu, who has fallen on the second-round hurdle on three consecutive appearances to amount for a 3-3 record. She has played at the French Open (lost in the second round for a win-loss of 1-1) just once and will need some time to grow on the surface. A return to New York, where she does boast of a 7-2 win-loss, meanwhile just brings with it far too much pressure.

In that sense, Wimbledon remains the Briton's best bet to get back into the winners’ circle. It is her home event, her game is tailor-made for quick conditions and she's posted consistently good results at the venue.

Raducanu is at her best when she steps inside the baseline and takes her groundstrokes early. That aggressive approach and unwillingness to fall onto backfoot was a big part of her success in 2021.

The Briton’s forehand and backhand may be getting back into that shape but her brain will need more wiring. She has been outside the winners’ circle for a minute now and will need some other results to boost her confidence into thinking about winning Grand Slams.

For now, her focus should be on blocking out all the outside noise, staying healthy and playing a full season without any major injury setbacks. More Grand Slam titles will in all likelihood come Emma Raducanu's way. She will just have to be slightly more patient.