Emma Raducanu Stays Positive Despite Opening Round Loss in Strasbourg

Emma Raducanu made her return to the court after two months of absence but failed to get past the opening round of the Strasbourg Open. The British star was competing in her first clay-court tournament ahead of the Roland Garros and failed to impress against French player Diane Parry.

The former World No.10 has been dealing with health issues in recent months. Her last competitive match before the Strasbourg Open was at Indian Wells, where she lost in the third round to Amanda Anisimova 1-6, 1-6. After that, she withdrew from the Miami Open, Linz, and Madrid Open due to illness.

At the Italian Open, she arrived earlier than other players, gave her pre-match press conference, but then decided to withdraw from the tournament due to fitness issues. This has now caused her to drop out of the top 37, making her ineligible to secure a seeded position at Roland Garros.

Ahead of the Strasbourg Open, she reunited with her former coach Andrew Richardson, who guided her to her only Grand Slam triumph at the US Open as a qualifier five years ago. Fans were hoping the reunion would spark something positive for Raducanu, but she lost to World No.94 Parry 4-6, 6(4)-7.

The match lasted for two and a half hours, and Raducanu committed three double faults and was unable to convert four break-point opportunities. The loss means she has lost her only chance to become a seeded player at Roland Garros. After the defeat, Raducanu expressed her disappointment but also took the positives from the defeat:

Diane came in with a lot of confidence from her win last week and played some really good tennis. I think I played well in moments but, but yeah, it’s been a long break since I’ve played a competitive match. It’s gonna take a little bit of time before I find my groove on the match court. I’m proud of how I fought and competed throughout the whole match. I’m feeling as though I’m just trying to take care of each day as best as I possibly can.

Raducanu will now turn her focus to preparing for Roland Garros, but with her current ranking position, she’s likely to meet a top 10 player as early as the second round. The World No.37 is also not in good form, with one match in the past two months; her confidence is very low, and that was noticeable against Parry.

Emma Raducanu told not changing style of play will cause her problems

Emma Raducanu has suggested changes to her game ahead of Roland Garros. She has admitted that she wants to get back to the kind of power hitting that drove her towards her only Grand Slam title at the US Open. This comes after a split with Francisco Roig and other coaches on tour.

Her willingness to return to that brand of tennis might stem from her reunion with coach Andrew Richardson. However, during a conversation on TNT Sports, former British No.1 Laura Robson admitted that the power-hitting brand of tennis may not be enough for Raducanu to challenge the top players in the women’s circuit:

I mean, because everyone hits the ball big, so you kind of have to be able to do everything. It’s not like you can just get away with crunching the ball and expect to win. So I feel like adding the power almost back to her game would be a good thing because it does feel like she lost her identity a little bit. But she also has to make sure that she doesn’t lose the ability to do other things out there as well…

Raducanu’s last match win on tour came against Anastasia Zakharova at the Indian Wells Open. The last time she won more than three matches was at the Transylvania Open, where she reached the final before losing to Italian Open semi-finalist Sorana Cirstea in straight sets in Romania.

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