Emma Raducanu says she is ready to re-evaluate her game after losing to Anastasia Potapova in the second round of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
For Melbourne, Raducanu missed out on pre-season play with a foot issue and didn’t return to the court until late December.
She looked lacking in competitiveness against Maria Sakkari in the United Cup, and although she defeated Camila Osorio in the opening match in Hobart, she was subsequently defeated by world No. 204 Tyra Preston.
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Raducanu lost in straight sets to Anastasia Potapova at the Australian Open and was forced to withdraw early.
Raducanu has spoken positively about her work with coach Francisco Roig, whom she hired last summer, but the 23-year-old doesn’t feel she’s found the right formula on court.
In Melbourne, the British No. 1 overcame a slow start to win her first match against Manachaya Sawankaeo, but a series of mistakes led her to lose to Anastasia Potapova.
Having achieved his goal of re-seeding at a Grand Slam, Raducanu admitted he was ready to “re-evaluate” aspects of his game.
When asked about his plans for the future, he said, “I think I’ll take a few days to go home and review my game a little bit.
“Let’s look back and see where we can improve. Things I’ve been feeling and things that are obvious visually. I want to get a better feel on certain shots before I start playing again.”
“I want to play in a different way, and I just want to work on the disconnect between how I’m playing and how I want to play. I think there are definitely areas where I’m playing the way I want to play, and it shows in the moment. That’s a positive thing, and it’s probably been more than a certain amount in my career over the last few years, but it’s not how I want to be consistently every day.”
“It’s not going to stick right away, but the more I think about how I want to play and work on it, the more that’s going to become my identity every time I step on the court. I’ve got to work on it, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Raducanu: I have the ability to do a lot on the court
The Englishman has been off the court during pre-season due to physical issues, this time suffering a foot injury, which has undoubtedly been a mitigating factor during an overwhelming three weeks in Australia.
Raducanu will next play in his father’s home country of Romania, at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, which starts on February 1.
she continued. “At the end of the day, I just want to hit the ball into the corner and hard. I feel like I’m doing all these different things and it’s not doing what I want to do. I need to work on playing in a way that’s more similar to how I used to play when I was younger.”
“I was always changing direction, getting the ball early and going for it. I have the ability to do a lot of things on the court, but I feel like I need to stick to my arsenal a little bit and work on that as well while learning all those skills.”
In the four-and-a-half years since winning the U.S. Open, Raducanu has listened to a variety of voices trying to reach the top of his game, but he hasn’t found any consistency in his results.
She showed real promise during the spring and summer of last year, when she was without a permanent coach but was training with former British No. 1 Mark Petchey, but she has regressed a bit since then.
“If you had told me when I was 18 years old if I could win that night, I don’t think anyone would have expected it. If you do that well, you’ll inevitably end up at the same low. It was too high to keep winning so early,” said the world No. 29.
“Since then, I think I’ve accepted that all the kinds of challenges I’ve faced, figuring things out, learning from mistakes, learning from experiences, all of that was in a sense what was going to happen two months ago when I was 350th in the world and went from qualifying to winning a Slam at 18 years old.
“I’ve learned a lot. I think it’s just repeating things over and over again. I think I’m gradually figuring out what works for me, and I think I’ve been doing better in the Slam tournaments. I think it’s just doing the day-to-day work and improving myself as a player. I think I’m doing that.”
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Let’s take a look back at Emma Raducanu’s incredible victory at the 2021 US Open…
Raducanu ‘looked lost’ after second round loss
Anne Keothavong says Raducanu is ‘back to square one’
England’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keosavon felt that Raducanu “looked lost” during his match against Potapova.
“There were times at the end of the game where she looked really lost,” she told TNT Sports.
“You have to take into account her condition. Her preparation was not ideal for this tournament and we didn’t know where her foot was.
“Raducanu was playing in daytime conditions, which were much faster and windier than the first round matches at night.
“There were a lot of things she didn’t adjust to today, but it’s still the beginning of the season. Hopefully she can pick herself up, dust herself off and get back to square one.”
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