Emma Raducanu puts Madrid Open exit down to fatigue
Emma Raducanu has pegged her capitulation against Argentinian qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle in the first round of the Madrid Open on being emotionally and physically drained.
Raducanu was left to lament the brutality of the sport of tennis after she was crushed 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 26 minutes by an opponent ranked no 82 in the world.
She admitted that she was tapped out mentally and also felt that she had run out gas, after her loss.
The 2021 US Open winner played with strapping on her left knee and delivered an error-riddled performance in Madrid that has disappointed fans.
“I would say the last few weeks have been a lot,” she said in the wake of the defeat.
“I think from the performance today it was very clear that mentally and emotionally I was exhausted.
“I was trying to push through and I was just unable to push through today. I guess the sport is just pretty brutal.”
Raducanu helped Great Britain overcome France earlier this month, securing a spot in the Billie Jean King Cup finals, but team captain Anne Keothavong was highly critical of her play against Carle.
Keothavong said that fatigue could have been a factor but questioned the mentality of Raducanu after her poor performance against an opponent who had been hunting her first ever WTA 1000 match win.
The BJK Cup captain also felt that it wouldn’t be fair to Raducanu’s game to judge her on a very flat performance in Madrid where she didn’t really get out of the starting blocks
“I don’t think you can analyse the tennis because Emma the performer didn’t show up today,” Keothavong said during Sky Sports coverage of the WTA 1000 event.
“And if any athlete doesn’t show up ready to play, you don’t really stand a chance. Credit her opponent, who came out with fire and energy and she was the one who looked up for it and was ready for the fight.
“We talk a lot about head, heart and legs, and if your head and your heart aren’t in it, your legs don’t stand a chance.
“It was really disappointing to see. She said she was tired, but do you talk yourself into more tiredness?”
Raducanu’s ability to grind her way back to the top ten through hustling on the WTA Tour has been questioned.
The Brit could be left to rely on sparse wildcards to keep herself in the discussion for the Grand Slams and bigger tournaments.
