On Sunday afternoon, Britain’s leading lady and a former miracle worker will begin her French Open in the shadow of the grand Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Rows of benches run along just two sides of Court 13, in the far corner of Roland Garros, where a little more than 500 people will be able to squeeze in to watch Emma Raducanu’s first-round match against Solana Sierra.
That, believe the organisers, is as much as Britain’s main interest warrants. For the 2021 US Open champion Raducanu is to them neither a home favourite nor a big name anymore. She’s the unseeded world No 37. Wimbledon would probably stick Lois Boisson, the French world No 50, on an outside court too. But as we head into the second Grand Slam of the year, it can’t help but make you reflect on the health of British tennis and the precarious position it finds itself.
Jack Draper’s absence here due to a knee injury means he will soon drop out of the top 100, leaving Cameron Norrie as Britain’s sole representative. The last time we had just one man in the top 100 was a decade ago.
Even having just two puts us behind 12 other nations, many of whom have far less money to spend on tennis, and level with the likes of Kazakhstan and the Netherlands. France have 11 men in the top 100, Spain have eight and Italy have seven. Even Monaco have a star in Valentin Vacherot ranked higher than any Brit. No British singles player reached the second week of the Australian Open in January, and none won a main-draw match at the Italian Open a week ago.
How quickly the landscape shifts. It was only January when Draper, Norrie and Jacob Fearnley sat in the top 75. It was only two years ago that Britain had five in the top 100: Draper, Norrie, Dan Evans, Liam Broady and Andy Murray, the most since 1978.
Emma Raducanu has been put on a minor outside court for her first-round match at the French Open this year – she is no longer considered a big name outside of these shores
Jack Draper, who was world No 4 not long ago, could now drop out of the top 100
Last year, Raducanu, Sonay Kartal, Katie Boulter, Harriet Dart and Fran Jones all spent time in the women’s top 100. The British team, without the top stars like Raducanu, Kartal or Boulter and including 17-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic, produced a stunning victory against Australia in the Billie Jean King Cup last month.
A year ago we were celebrating 10 players reaching the second round of Wimbledon after Draper, Fearnley and Norrie had all reached the third round at Roland Garros. Six Brits will feature in the main draw this week.
You only need to go back as far as July 2013 to find just Murray in the men’s top 200. Now, there’s nine. The depth of talent is there, with many helped to flourish by the US college system, and Britain is just crying out for a real star. One, crucially, that can stay fit.
When Murray was romping to the final stages of Grand Slams, winning three of them, it was far easier to overlook the issues underneath the surface. Raducanu wrote the most sensational underdog story five years ago but since her epic triumph, it’s been the same story: poor results, poor fitness and sacking coaches. She needs to write a new one if she is to recapture the imagination.
Draper rose to fourth in the world last summer and looked like he could be the one to seize the Murray mantle, only to be consistently plagued by different injuries from a bruised arm bone to a troublesome knee concern.
Quite simply, the landscape of British tennis would seem far brighter were our top stars not consistently injured. Kartal has missed the entire clay-court season with a back injury, Raducanu has played one match since March with a post-viral illness and suffered a foot injury before that.
Jones suffered a leg injury at the Australian Open and is still recovering fully from a concussion sustained in a freak gym accident in the USA, over which she is taking legal action. Fearnley has been struggling with a rib injury. Boulter suffered foot and hip injuries last year as she briefly dropped out the top 100.
Even Norrie, Mr Reliable, is no longer immune. He has reached the third round in 15 of the last 20 Slams, been the last Brit standing at 14 of them over the past five years including in Australia in January, and missed just one Slam through injury since 2017. However, he revealed on Saturday that a rib injury has left him unable to practice since arriving at Roland Garros and left him taking selfies in front of the Arc de Triomphe instead of hitting balls.
Even Norrie, Mr Reliable, is no longer immune to injury and he has been unable to practice in the build-up to this tournament
Sonay Kartal Kartal missed the entire clay-court season with a back injury
‘It’s not the best timing,’ said Norrie, who faces Adolfo Daniel Vallejo of Paraguay in the first round on Tuesday. ‘Maybe, in hindsight, I overtrained and overprepared and loving my tennis too much, maybe could have rested a few more days.’ Norrie even played a best of five sets practice match with American Ben Shelton last week.
So, what’s causing this raft of injuries?
LTA sources were keen to stress to Daily Mail Sport that the injuries affecting the British stars were varied and also found no pattern when they audited the issues suffered. Insiders also revealed they had looked how many times our stars had retired from matches and insisted they showed no real difference to other nations.
The LTA has, however, overhauled its entire physio department over the past 18 months. They clearly know it’s an issue holding British tennis back.
Performance director Michael Bourne has suggested the high workload is the ‘key driver’ of injuries. Raducanu, Draper, Arthur Fery and French Open qualifier Toby Samuel have all suffered from suffered bone bruises, typically linked to repetitive impact stress in tennis.
This is, of course, not just a British problem. Carlos Alcaraz is not here to defend his title and will miss Wimbledon. The great French hope Arthur Fils withdrew yesterday with a hip injury. Taylor Fritz has suffered with a long-term knee injury. Novak Djokovic has been dealing with a shoulder issue.
Many of the players Daily Mail Sport consulted pointed to the packed calendar, including the decision to extend ATP Masters events from one week to two. Having to fly to Melbourne for two weeks for the Billie Jean King Cup to play on hard courts during the clay court season can’t have helped.
‘I think it’s easy to focus on the fact that there’s Brits injured,’ said Jones, who takes on Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia on the more prestigious Court 14. ‘Maybe because there’s less of us, we’re a smaller country, and it’s more apparent, but it’s not a specific to Brits thing. I think it’s specific to the Tour.
Carlos Alcaraz has also been struck down – the seven-time major winner will miss both the French Open and Wimbledon this summer
Toby Samuel has battle bone bruises this year and made it through qualifying in Paris, where he will face Australia’s world No 8 Alex de Minaur in the first round
‘I just think if there was a way, like Formula One does, to find like a two or three-week break, where we can put in a good training block, maybe that would help us with our robustness.’
‘I don’t think it’s particular to any Brits,’ added Fearnley. ‘I guess you could say it’s a bit of a coincidence that lots of Brits are getting injured. I would imagine it’s something to do with the schedule. I know a lot of players have complained with the balls, they are quite tough on the body.’
The balls? Many players believe modern balls fluff up quicker than old ones, so fly through the air slower, meaning you have to hit them harder and rallies get longer leading to more strain and, over time, more injuries.
So, Raducanu and Jones, both fit again, will lead the way this afternoon as the first of our six hopefuls trying to haul British tennis back out of the shadows once again.
