EMMA RADUCANU revealed it was a case of ‘Rice, Rice, Baby’ rehab to fix her injury woes.
One of Britain’s greatest sportswomen returns to top-level tennis this week with a first-round date at the Australian Open.
Last May the 2021 US Open winner was recovering at home after THREE surgeries within the space of 13 days.
Two of those ops were on her wrists and she adopted an unusual method as part of the healing process.
One ploy was to dunk her hands in a bucket of RICE for 75 minutes.
This is a form of therapy for healing hands and wrists and helps to improve grip and forearm strength.
Speaking to one of her sponsors, Porsche, Raducanu, 21, said: “I have such high standards of myself. You need massive amounts of dedication.
“If you have that, that’s where you’re going to really go above and beyond.
“The exercises I love are pretty much all in the gym. You hate them at the time but after you do them, you love them because you feel unbelievable after.
“At one stage I was doing a lot of rice exercises, like hand in a bucket of rice, moving it around, and it was killing me.
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“You’re just staring at the clock for the whole hour, like ‘get me out of here’. I don’t want to see rice again!
“I truly realise how much I really missed it [tennis]. How grateful I am to be on the court playing pain-free. It’s an amazing feeling. And I really think that I can achieve whatever I want to.”
Raducanu, born in Toronto but raised in Kent, will be in action against American Shelby Rogers in the opening match of the first Slam of 2024.
Having dealt with wrist pain since before the 2022 US Open, she realised the importance of going under the knife and having the long lay-off.
Raducanu added: “I knew for a while before I did the surgeries that I needed it. I couldn’t practise everything I wanted to because of the pain.
“I felt very undercooked when I would go into matches. That was the most difficult thing mentally.
“One thing the time off has told me is I love the sport.
“After such a long break, you come back with so much more enthusiasm and hunger.
“I think going back to Wimbledon will be really special for me. I love the huge crowds and big stadiums.”
