“She was going to have to beat me,” Emma Raducanu shares what inspired her to fight through her illness and complete the game against Wang Yafan

Emma Raducanu crashed out of the 2024 Australian Open on Thursday, January 18.

“She was going to have to beat me,” Emma Raducanu shares what inspired her to fight through her illness and complete the game against Wang Yafan

Emma Raducanu (Via: Imago)

Emma Raducanu recently opened up about what motivated her to keep up during her second-round clash against Wang Yafan at the 2024 Australian Open despite feeling sick.

The Briton marked her return to the WTA Tour after an 8-month hiatus owing to numerous injury setbacks she sustained, rendering her unable to perform.

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Furthermore, Raducanu also went under the knife to get corrective surgeries on both her wrists and ankles and adhered to an extensive rehabilitation period before returning to professional tennis.

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While the tennis world hoped for the former British No. 1 to deliver breathtaking results at the season’s first Grand Slam, Emma Raducanu was unfortunately presented with an unexpected health illness, which hammered her second-round performance against Wang Yafan. Despite putting up a good fight, the Brits lost the hard-hitting contest in straight sets. 

Following her loss to the Chinese pro, Raducanu pressed on the subject of her on-court illness and addressed how she was able to perform despite such pressing physical ailments.

Honestly I've been in that situation before in matches, whether it was with illness or injury, & retired a few times. I think, to be honest, with what I went through last year, you feel awful right now.. at some points I couldn't really see the ball very well, but I think with everything I went through last year, it's made me so much tougher.
Said Raducanu via Australian Open Press.

The 21-year-old registered her first-round victory over Shelby Rogers before unfortunately crashing out of the Melbourne Slam.

There was no way I was going to pull out. She was going to have to beat me, & she did. She served it out. I think the last year off & also just with the amount of niggles & everything that I had, the setbacks, it did make me a lot tougher.
Continuing further, she added

Emma Raducanu details physical aliments following the heartbreaking loss at the 2024 Australian Open

While talking in a post-match press conference at the 2024 Australian Open, British tennis sensation Emma Raducanu detailed the physical ailments that hammered her performance against the Chinese pro.

Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu (Via The Express times)

Throughout the third set I think everyone could see it was a bit of a battle. Like physically, body-wise, I felt fine. It was more I was throwing up in my mouth. Then after the match, it came out. Now I’m okay. Yeah, I’ll get over it. It just sucks with the timing.

Raducanu said via Melbourne Press.

Raducanu is speculated to return to action at the highly anticipated Indian Wells 2024 event, which will host top players from the WTA Tour, including Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek.

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