Emma Raducanu looked shell-shocked yesterday, as she succumbed to a first-round exit at Roland Garros.
Admittedly, it was no less than what many expected, given the stark lack of clay-court preparation the 23-year-old had been afforded, having battled with illness for the last two months.
In fact, this marked just her second match since returning to competitive action.
Although, that does not make the 6-0 first set scoreline any easier to digest.
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Raducanu fought back tears as she spoke at her press conference, discussing just how difficult it is to deal with the physical setbacks she has had in recent years.
However, despite that, she did look for the positives in such a tough first-round defeat.
Emma Raducanu finds the ‘light’ in her first-round loss at Roland Garros
Asked to sum up the match, Emma Raducanu admitted she had nothing analytical to offer reporters.
“I can’t really explain it right now,” she insisted. “I haven’t processed it fully. I think it was really difficult.”
Raducanu then continued: “I went on the court. I felt like the conditions were extremely lively and I felt like I wasn’t able to trust my shots in that and didn’t feel like I had control over the ball.
“Yeah, it was just a really difficult kind of setup for me to step into. 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, you know, 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, you know, get a few games on the board.”
Touching on the tiebreaker and her fight to take it that far, she added: “Yeah, it was difficult. It’s hard to kind of speak about the match right now.
“But I have to at least take the fact that from, you know, a set and 4-1 down, I came back and made it competitive in the second set. Yeah, in a way I’m pretty disappointed.
“Obviously I wanted to do better, but I guess that’s the light I can take from today.”
Why there is cause for excitement for Emma Raducanu after losing in Paris
Despite what, on paper, looks like a heavy defeat, Raducanu is right to take positives from this performance.
After all, there’s no point in dwelling on such a defeat, having played just one preparatory match on clay in the run-up to Roland Garros.
At which Grand Slam is Emma Raducanu most likely to win a second major title? Let us know why below 👇
What is exciting is the fact that she finally seems fit again, just in time for the grass-court season. This is where we can hopefully see the best of the British number one again.
There’s cause for greater optimism too given that Raducanu has re-hired Andrew Richardson as her coach. He led her to that incredible 2021 US Open title, playing a bold and aggressive style of tennis in a fearless manner.
Hopefully, with some time to practice alongside him once again and recover further, the next time we see her, she will be reinvigorated and ready to shine on grass.
