Emma Raducanu has suffered yet another blow with Wimbledon due to get underway at the end of June
Emma Raducanu’s concerning run of form has persisted after she was knocked out of the French Open in the opening round. The British No.1 has also slipped two positions in the world rankings to 39 as uncertainty lingers over whether the struggling star will even be seeded for Wimbledon this summer.
The 23-year-old was competing in only her second match since returning from illness which kept her out for more than two months. Yet, her time at Roland Garros proved brief as she was defeated by world No. 68 Solana Sierra.
Raducanu surrendered the opening set in merely 25 minutes, racking up 15 unforced errors. She mounted a fightback in the second set after trailing 1-4, but ultimately fell short in a tiebreak.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Follow Wales Online’s Swansea City FB page for more news and analysis
It has been a year of peaks and troughs for Raducanu, whose pre-season preparations were disrupted by a foot injury, before the virus emerged in February.
She exited in the second round of the Australian Open but did progress to the singles final at the Transylvania Open where she was defeated in straight sets by Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.
To secure seeding at Wimbledon, a player must be positioned within the top 32 players globally in their respective Tour rankings. With Raducanu presently outside that bracket, it appears probable she will miss out on being seeded for SW19, which commences at the end of the month.
Speaking after her defeat in Paris, an emotional Raducanu said: “I can’t really explain it right now. I haven’t processed it fully. I think it was really difficult. I went on the court. I felt like the conditions were extremely lively, and I felt like I wasn’t able to kind of trust my shots in that and didn’t feel like I had control over the ball.
“It was just a really difficult kind of setup for me to step into, I think, having not had many matches. I think probably just a bit light on matches, a bit light on confidence coming into the tournament.
“Yeah, the first set happened super quickly, and it’s not a nice feeling when the points and the games are going, like, very, very fast. I’m glad at least in the second set I was able to kind of get a few games on the board.”
Raducanu had returned to action in Strasbourg earlier this week, losing her opening match to Diane Parry in two-and-a-half hours. There had been speculation over whether she would bypass the clay season entirely and concentrate on grass, but she believes her two defeats will prove worthwhile.
“I think it will help me,” she said. “I think I haven’t played matches and it’s obviously very difficult coming in not having had any matches, you know, towards the back end of the clay season and these girls having tournament after tournament of confidence and wins. So I think that was pretty tricky for me.”
Raducanu will now shift her focus to the grass-court season. She is expected to continue working alongside coach Andrew Richardson, who steered her to her remarkable US Open triumph in 2018, and was brought back on board by Raducanu earlier this month.
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.
Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login