Boris Becker has warned Emma Raducanu that her decision to have surgery on three different injuries at such a young age is ‘career-threatening’.
Raducanu confirmed last week from her hospital bed that she had completed her third round of surgery as her long road to recovery begins.
The 20-year-old British tennis star, who will miss the French Open and Wimbledon this year, had the first procedure on her right racket-playing hand, the second on her left hand and a third on her left ankle.
It is unclear when Raducanu will return to the WTA Tour – with some speculating she will aim to return for the US Open later this year, the Grand Slam she won two years ago – while others have predicted that she may not play again until 2024.
Raducanu has struggled with various injuries ever since her major triumph in New York and recently slipped outside of the world top 100.
Becker, though, feels surgery may not have been the best decision for Raducanu at this stage in her career.
‘The surgeries that she has had are, in my opinion, career-threatening,’ Becker told The Guardian.
‘Having surgery on your playing wrist, and as a two-handed player, the other wrist – and then on your ankle – is tough to bear for a young woman.’
Quizzed about Raducanu’s struggles with form after winning the US Open, Becker added: ‘I’m not in her inner circle so I don’t know all the things that went off, although I’ve seen the coaching changes.
‘But as a young woman, all of a sudden being on top of the mountain, you have to really dig in and find the resources and the team around you to guide you through the next 10 years.
‘Its about mindset and talent, team, approach and circumstances. She’s not the first one who wasn’t able to do it. And she won’t be the last. But if she was good enough to win a grand slam [title] once, she’s good enough to win one again.’
Three-time Wimbledon champion Becker, who is also a former world No.1, was handed a two-and-a-half year prison sentence last year after failing to declare £2.5 million worth of assets to avoid paying debts.
The German has since been released having served eight months in the UK.
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