Sports23 September, 20262 min read
Andre Agassi Advises Emma Raducanu To Focus On Her Identity During Injury Lay-Off
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Raducanu reads Agassi's Open to navigate her injury slump. Agassi advises Raducanu to be the best of herself, not judge by results.
5 outlets told this the same way.
Raducanu finds Agassi
Emma Raducanu said she was especially intrigued by the passage where Andre Agassi got out of his slump in the late 1990s by creating his own training regimen and finding his way back to the top. Raducanu told Uniqlo that the book “It speaks in depth about his early successes and the lows he reached, perhaps as a result of them,” and she added, “A lot of it was so relatable.”
Agassi told BBC Breakfast that “It’s wonderful to hear that anybody can relate,” describing his hope that a reader could gain tools to understand they are not alone and figure out a healthier place. Agassi also advised Raducanu to focus on being the best of herself on a daily basis, while telling her “don’t judge that by results or thinking that somehow you have to be 100%.”
Injuries and rankings
Raducanu reached a career-high ranking of 10 in July 2022, but she has slipped to 98th and her progress has been hampered by physical issues. Raducanu missed the US Open while recovering from a stress fracture in her lower right leg, after a foot injury disrupted her pre-season training and a post-viral illness kept her off court for two-and-a-half months earlier this year.
Raducanu also reached her biggest final since her New York triumph at Queen's Club in June, and she said she was plotting a route back to the pinnacle of tennis. Agassi said his own pressure began when his father introduced him to others as a future number one tennis player, and he later described that additional pressure as leading him to play with “fear.”
Laver Cup and identity
Agassi will captain Team USA in the Laver Cup at The O2 in London later this week, between 25-27 September, and he said the event’s place in players’ schedules shows how great it is. Agassi predicted the spectators would see “some spectacular tennis” when Team USA meets Team Europe, and he said, “We’re obviously playing Team Europe, in Europe, so I don’t know where the crowd is going to have their heart.”
Raducanu’s advice from Agassi centered on identity, as he told her “be comfortable in your own identity inside of that - not what people say.” Agassi said tennis was not a childhood passion for him, and he described how it was not until he sank from world number one to 141st that he felt able to reconnect with the sport.