Emma Raducanu’s serve has developed into a potent tool.

Emma Raducanu is in Madrid ahead of her participation in the WTA 1000 event that will take place in the city over the next few weeks. It is highly possible that she will receive the wildcard required to compete in the competition.

Following a very positive few days, the 2021 US Open winner confirmed her presence in the Spanish city with an Instagram photo as she gets ready to make another prominent appearance on the WTA Tour.

The Madrid Open officials did not include the 21-year-old British player in their initial wildcard announcement, but they did confirm Raducanu’s participation before Sunday’s draw.

Raducanu will now have the opportunity to test her skills against a former world No. 1 player when she faces Czech sensation Karolina Pliskova as a result of that draw.

Raducanu could view Pliskova’s lackluster performance in 2024—her victory in the WTA 250 competition at the Transylvania Open in February serving as the pinnacle of her year—as a favorable opportunity to improve with this draw.

At 32 years old, Pliskova might be nearing the end of her career as she has only won one match in her last three events.

After a difficult 2023 that required surgery on both her wrists and her ankle, Raducanu is slowly making her way back.

She has naturally needed some time to regain her peak physical condition and form after being out of the game for so long, but it looks like she is starting to perform at her best again.

A strong performance in the Billie Jean King Cup and a trip to the quarterfinals of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart last week supported each other.

After losing to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek 7-6(2) 6-3 last Friday, she said she was feeling jaded from playing five matches in a short period of time.

Raducanu declared, “It’s no secret that I’m fatigued.” “I have played a lot of tennis over the past week, but I would much rather be in this situation where I am weary, feeling good and confident on the court, and having won a number of matches.”

Raducanu withdrew from the Miami Open owing to lower back discomfort, but it is obvious that she is eager to continue building on her success by facing more elite opponents in Madrid.

Although Raducanu’s wildcard into the competition is still pending, her management company, the Madrid Open, put her in prime position to win a valuable ticket to compete.

Given that the IMG Group has significant control over wildcards, Raducanu was always expected to be on the top of their list when they announced that they had signed into a deal to acquire the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in late 2021.

Raducanu is playing a level on clay courts that will test players in the top 30 of the women’s game, but she will start the tournament as an unseeded player once more and may even become well-known in the early going.

Her close bouts with Swiatek and world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in recent weeks have validated her comeback to form, and her confidence is also rising.

“I think it helps because I feel like I’ve had more of a serve in the last two tournaments, so it’s more of a weapon,” she remarked last week in Stuttgart.

“I think I can improve on that. I think at the beginning of the year, it was more about working really hard and winning every point from the baseline.

That, in my opinion, absolutely makes a difference.

In addition, I simply have a strong sense of confidence in the work I have been doing on the practice courts.

I’ve been putting a lot of effort into it.

“I wouldn’t describe what I do as really noteworthy.

I simply make an effort to remain in the here and now and to rely on my training.

If I claimed I wasn’t exhausted, I would be lying, but I would much rather be in this situation—having played a lot of matches and feeling worn out—than being extremely fresh and losing.

It’s humorous because you always desire things that are out of your reach.

“I’m getting pretty good at tennis. I think my dominance in my service games has increased significantly.

I believe that my performance is at a high level. Everyone I was training with, I believe, can also witness to that.