The Return of Tennis Stars: What to Expect in the 2024 Season

2024. A year marked on the calendar for many. In the ATP, Rafael Nadal returns to the scene, a cause for celebration… and the WTA is not far behind. Some of their most notable rackets, such as those of Naomi Osaka or Angelique Kerber, will return to the professional circuit next year. What can they do? What do they aspire to?

The season 2024 It appears exciting within the WTA. New actresses will try to join the power struggle in the battle for number one, others will want to make their first steps in the elite… and there is a very important contingent of players who will return to the courts after a long time away from them, stars that want to shine again after knowing what glory is and the sacrifice that is hidden to access it. Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu, Angelique Kerber y Amanda Anisimovafour names and four very different contexts, four attractions that intend to return to their own rights and give more arguments on the way to the women’s circuit.

-NAOMI OSAKA: It is surely the most anticipated return and, at the same time, the most uncertain. Several months ago, the Japanese woman surprised us with a shocking revelation: she was preparing to give birth and become a mother, while announcing an indefinite pause from professional commitments during the year 2023. Her intention and greatest motivation would be to return in a The year 2024 is getting closer and for which Naomi is preparing with total dedication. She has already shared several images of her training in Los Angeles on social media, in addition to expressing her enormous ambition to return to the top.

The break from the tennis world came at the most necessary stage in Osaka’s career. The Japanese seemed to collapse in the face of external pressures, suffering episodes of laziness on the track and stating on several occasions that she was mentally exhausted, without any motivation to compete. Precisely the arrival on the planet of her first-born daughter, Shai, has ignited the competitive flame of the Japanese, who wants to add more Grand Slams and return to the top of the circuit. It won’t be because of potential and tennis: we are talking about the first Japanese tennis player to win a Grand Slam, who for a year was the tennis player who generated the most money on the planet, capable of eclipsing and knocking down Serena Williams at home and holder of multiple major titles. Her return is one of the great attractions of the next campaign, without a doubt.

– EMMA RADUCANU: A leap to explosive stardom. Emma Raducanu’s life changed completely in just a matter of weeks: she went from being semi-unknown to being the protagonist of a fairy tale story that everyone was interested in. With that 2021 US Open title also came, of course, problems: coaching changes, the appearance of crazy fans who began to harass her, covers that were not always generous, a constant topic of conversation in the British press… the story ended suddenly. go bankrupt when physical problems became the last ingredient in an explosive cocktail.

After playing with pain for several months, May 2023 gave way to a major double operation on the knee and wrist, a surgical intervention that would keep Raducanu off the court for the remainder of the season. Of course, it was a satisfactory maneuver and may have given the British woman the time away from the spotlight that she needed. Her return to the circuit is based on a very important motivating factor: demonstrating that her story will not be reduced to that magnificent week in Flushing Meadows. She won’t have it easy, but she has plenty of talent.

– ANGELIQUE KERBER: At 35 years old, one of the biggest names of the last decade also returns. A tennis player who, based on insurmountable willpower and an enormous work ethic, touched the skies of this sport, adding three of the four possible Grand Slams to her record. In two of them she beat Serena Williams in the final, establishing herself as one of the great black beasts of the American, generating widespread admiration through her style of play, history and constant evolution. Kerber became pregnant in 2022 and has taken her return to the circuit very seriously, pointing out on numerous occasions that her return would not occur until she felt 100% physically.

After giving birth and enjoying the company of her daughter Liana, Angelique has prepared thoroughly for a very tiring return to competition. She will reappear against some of the best rackets in the world in the United Cup and her expectations are high: she considers that she can still perform at a very high level, considering the break another stage in her sporting career. Will Angie be able to green her laurels?

– AMANDA ANISIMOVA: It’s strange to see such a young player admit that the best thing that can happen to her is to spend time away from the courts. This is the case of Amanda Anisimova, who decided to take a definitive break from the world of tennis in the middle of this season, prioritizing her mental health, appearing devastated on a psychological level after several years in which everything seemed to go too fast. Indeed, the career of this young American (she is still 22 years old) is defined by precocity, adding her first victory against a top-10 at the age of 16, conquering her first WTA title at the age of 17.

All of this preceded a semifinal at Roland Garros, at which time the world finally met Anisimova. Shortly after, the most sudden and brutal of news: the death of her father after a heart attack. No one is prepared to digest something like this, and it seemed that Amanda forgot it in each appearance on the court, shining again in 2022 in which she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon… but the brutal demands of the circuit and the loneliness Each trip and tournament ended up exhausting the North American, who cited mental health as the main reason for signing the break. In 2024, one of the pearls of the women’s circuit will be back… to, perhaps, reach the heights that many expected from her tennis.

2023-12-11 18:38:02
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