Emma Raducanu has earmarked a four-week training block between November and December where she will aim to improve her fitness ahead of next season’s WTA tour.
The British number one claimed her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in September but has struggled to find the same form since then –– claiming just two victories in two events.
After exiting the Indian Wells Open in the second round, Raducanu reached the quarter-finals of the Transylvania Open in Romania, before losing convincingly to fellow teenager Marta Kostyuk.
The Ukrainian is just eight months older than the Brit, but her experience and superior fitness was telling as she eased to a 6-2 6-1 win in less than an hour.
And the US Open champion admitted to feeling burnout after the match.
“I wasn’t physically feeling 100 percent,” she said. “I was quite tired and lethargic today. Sometimes you just have those days where you don’t feel your best. I knew from the morning, I knew from practice.
"I wanted to go out there on the court and try my best and see how it was going to go, maybe it would go better. But I just couldn't get it going today unfortunately.
"It's just disappointing that you have these days. It's not a nice feeling to have, but I just need to move on from it and brush it off. And then I'll be back in another tournament soon."
Raducanu also suggested her lack of energy could be due to the intensity of the last few months, which has seen the 18-year-old balance playing tennis with a number of other commitments.
"I think it's just the last six months," Raducanu said. "It's been a lot of learnings and I've experienced a lot in the last six months with not so many gaps.
"I'm just adapting to the fast-paced life of the tour and obviously still very new to it, so it's still going to take me some time to adjust."
Therefore, the Brit has decided to use mid-November to mid-December as a time where she can work on her training and catch up to others physically.
First, though, she will wrap up her season at the Upper Austria Open in Linz next week, before taking some time off to rest and recuperate before the off-season.
“I'm going to do a full off-season for sure,” Raducanu said. “After Linz I'll probably have a week off just to mentally and physically refresh. It's going to be my first pre-season and from what I've heard it's a very difficult four weeks physically, so I just want to prepare for that and the next year."
While the Brit has committed to an intense training plan, she is still yet to confirm a full-time coach for next season. Spain’s Esteban Carrill, who previously mentored Johanna Konta, helped Raducanu in Cluj, but it’s far from certain if he will remain coaching the teenager moving forwards.