Emma Raducanu refused to be too critical of herself after crashing out in the second round of the Australian Open because of her injury-ravaged preparation for the tournament.
The British 28th seed had been hoping to set up another meeting with the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka but she faded from a promising position and fell to a 7-6 (3), 6-2 defeat against Anastasia Potapova.
“I don’t want to give myself too much of a hard time because I know my preparation going into this tournament,” she said. “I have to leave with my head held high because of the matches I’ve had here. I didn’t even know at the beginning if I would be coming to Australia, so it’s a positive in that sense.”
Raducanu started well against the world No 55, establishing a 5-3 lead, but was never comfortable in windy conditions. “It was one of those – you’re 5-3 up, but you’re not feeling particularly good, and you’re trying to tough out every point however you can,” said the 23-year-old. “It’s not the way that I want to really be playing. It got me in the lead. I just didn’t feel like I could scrap the whole match.”
In what has become a recurring theme, Raducanu’s preparations for a grand slam tournament were hurt by physical problems. She struggled with a foot injury throughout the off-season and only began working through intensive drills days before her first match of the season.
Raducanu failed to find her top level throughout her three weeks in Australia, particularly the quality of her serve and forehand, which she believes is a consequence of her less than ideal buildup.
“If you would have told me I would have played, you know, four or five matches in Australia regardless of how they went, from a physical perspective, it would have been pretty surprising,” said Raducanu.
“With each one I did get better, except today, but having to learn through matches is something that’s really difficult and not something that I really want to be doing. But because it’s a grand slam, you feel like you don’t want to miss out. So I don’t regret the decision, because I got to come and play a slam here.
“Even if I wasn’t very ready, I had a good three weeks down under on and off the court. I just need to take it for what it is, be pragmatic, and go back and keep working. The season is still quite long, so hopefully if I stay healthy, do the right things, then it will start falling into place.”
Raducanu is next scheduled to compete in Cluj, Romania, a WTA 250 event that begins on 1 February, but she says her primary goal now is to re-evaluate her game and rediscover her identity on the court having veered too far from the offensive baseline game that drove her early success.
“At the end of the day, I just want to hit the ball to the corners and hard,” she said. “I’m doing all this variety, and it’s not doing what I want it to do. I need to just work on playing in a way more similar to how I was playing when I was younger.
“I always just changed direction, took the ball early, and went for it. I think I do have the ability to do many things on the court, but I feel like as I’m learning all those skills, it’s like I need to stick to my guns a bit as well and work on that. For me, it’s pretty simple.”
