Emma Raducanu volunteers to help public as tennis icon gives back to community

Emma Raducanu volunteers to help public as tennis icon gives back to community

Emma Raducanu offered her time to work at a local community centre that helps combat food poverty. Raducanu assisted at one of the Surplus to Supper-led community initiatives.

Surplus to Supper takes food which is destined for landfills and redistributes it to foodbanks.

The organisation also has an in-house kitchen that ‘creates nutritious meals for those who need them most’, as well as holding a weekly market and offering a catering service for weddings and other events.

Raducanu spoke about the experience on her social media channels, posting: “@surplusstosupper thank you for letting me come by, an amazing operation.”

It comes during a rare bit of downtime for the WTA Tour ace following the conclusion of the 2024 season.

Raducanu’s final event before Christmas came at the Billie Jean King Cup, where she helped inspire Great Britain to the semi-final.

The 22-year-old won her singles tie, but British No.1 Katie Boulter didn’t have the same luck, with doubles pair Olivia Nicholls and Heather Watson also losing against their Slovakian counterparts.

It’s a positive step in the right direction for Raducanu, who had endured yet another injury-ridden year.

The 2021 US Open winner hadn’t featured in a single event since late September before the BJK Cup earlier this month, having been forced to pull out of the Korea Open quarter-final with a foot issue.

Having returned to the court in good form, Raducanu revealed she’s already ‘itching’ for the 2025 campaign to roll around.

Speaking in Malaga, she stated: “I think traditionally you’d probably have a bit of a break and take a holiday or something. But I feel like I have had four, five weeks off tennis, and I don’t really need any more time off.

“If anything, I’m excited and just itching to get on the practice court, and of course seeing some of my performances this week, it just incentivises me to do more work.

Like all players, Raducanu’s first big test of the year will come in Melbourne at the Australian Open – a tournament she’s never progressed beyond the second round.

Before that though, there are several WTA 125, 250 and 500 events running between late December and early January, with Raducanu expected to kick her season off at the ASB Classic in New Zealand.