Late Tuesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Emma Raducanu wiped away tears as she came to terms with another bitter first-round loss at the US Open. Her tight, frantic three-set defeat to Sofia Kenin, at the tournament that produced her career-defining victory three years ago, was all the more painful given how tense the encounter had been.
Although Kenin, the 2020 Australian Open champion, was in poor form ahead of the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, she exceeded expectations and played a fantastic match against a strong opponent.
Raducanu had no answer at first, but she dragged herself back into the fight with her resourcefulness and fighting spirit. However, at the important moments Kenin hit the ball with more freedom. She made Raducanu uncomfortable with her variation and she held on until the end.
Still, only one conclusion can be drawn from Raducanu’s defeat: although she fought hard and contributed to a high-quality match, she simply did not give herself the best chance of success by skipping four weeks of North American hard courts in the run-up to the tournament.
Since April, when Raducanu led Great Britain to victory in the Billie Jean King Cup against France, she has been playing top-quality tennis, reaching the quarter-finals or better of four tournaments and the fourth round of Wimbledon, beating several top-10 players in the process. But then, strangely enough, she retired from playing.
After her encouraging quarterfinal defeat in Washington on August 2, Raducanu opted not to play again until the US Open. As with the Italian and French Open tournaments she missed earlier this year, her ranking did not allow her to enter the main draw of the events she missed and she was not offered wildcards.
Rather than seize the opportunity to step back and play more matches, Raducanu returned to the sterile, familiar surroundings of the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
Before the tournament, Raducanu had reasoned, not for the first time, that she had “always done things a little differently” and her planning was one of the ways she stood out from other players. Raducanu’s early success has clearly encouraged her to approach her career in her own way, but some of the decisions she and her team have made seem to bear a hint of arrogance.
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Tennis players need to play tennis matches. Regular competition gives players a better chance to sharpen their decision-making, steady their nerve under pressure, and figure out how to adapt their game to different styles. Even Serena Williams, notorious for her frugal schedule, didn’t think she could walk into a Grand Slam tournament and dominate with no matches under her belt unless an injury left her no choice.
Kenin is a fine player in her own right, whose resume eclipses Raducanu’s. The American followed her Australian run with a French Open final before being named WTA Player of the Year in 2020, and the fall since then has been even steeper. Her level on Tuesday was excellent enough to win, regardless of her opponent’s preparation. But between Raducanu and her team, it’s their job to make sure she steps to the baseline fully prepared for any challenge. Here, she clearly wasn’t.
Perhaps this defeat is the reality check that the Raducanu team needs. This time, there are no injuries or unfortunate circumstances that could be pointed to as a possible contributing factor.
After the loss, Raducanu acknowledged that she would have benefited from making better decisions earlier in the season and that she aims to compete more in the future. She also noted that the decision to return home after Washington was a collective one — those advising her would be better able to keep her, still an inexperienced 21-year-old player, on track.
This is an incredibly tough, competitive sport, and with the current depth of the WTA tour, there are many players who can perform at a high level on any given day. Between the constant travel, the competition, and the growing target on the back of every successful player, sustained success requires players to put themselves in uncomfortable, vulnerable positions every week and find a way out the other side. It remains to be seen if and when Raducanu will be ready to really commit.