Andre Agassi offers warm words of comfort to Emma Raducanu amid injury lay-off

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Andre Agassi has urged Emma Raducanu to be the “best of herself” but not “judge that by results” as the former British No 1 eyes a return to the match court.

Raducanu, who broke through onto the world stage as an 18-year-old after winning the 2021 US Open as a qualifier without dropping a set, has not played since June after suffering a stress fracture to her right leg.

Recently, the 23-year-old spoke about the “relatability” of Agassi’s well-regarded autobiography Open, published in 2009, telling Uniqlo: “I was especially intrigued by the passage where he got out of his slump in the late 1990s by creating his own training regimen and finding his way back to the top. It speaks in depth about his early successes and the lows he reached, perhaps as a result of them.”

Now, five years on from her US Open triumph, eight-time major winner Agassi had some words of advice for the British player.

“I would encourage her to focus on being the best of herself on a daily basis, but don’t judge that by results or thinking that somehow you have to be 100%,” he told the BBC in London, ahead of captaining Team World in the Laver Cup at The O2 this weekend.

“You have to learn to be 100% of whatever per cent you’re at [and] be comfortable in your own identity inside of that – not what people say.

“Back in my day, I could just put down the paper and not read it. Now it seems like it’s harder for these youngsters to avoid.”

Agassi also acknowledged that it “made him feel good” that tennis players could still relate to his own journey, in which he went four years without a major in between two lucrative periods in his career.

“It’s wonderful to hear that anybody can relate,” Agassi added.

“It was literally the hope that if one person read it and it gave them hope, some tools to understand that they’re not alone, they can figure it out and get to a healthier place without having to direct their frustrations at the game of tennis, then it was a success for me.

“So, hearing that 17 years later it can still impact somebody, especially in this game, it does make me feel good.”

Agassi leads a side including Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz against Team Europe, captained by Yannick Noah and spearheaded by Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz, this weekend in the Ryder Cup-style event.

Raducanu, meanwhile, has pulled out of next week’s China Open and has not confirmed whether she will return to the match court before the end of the 2026 season.