Emma Raducanu still “has a lot to learn”, said her defeated first-round opponent Sloane Stephens, who sounded aggrieved at the way Raducanu had challenged her verbally at the start of their first-round match.
On the very first point of their thrilling three-set battle, Raducanu had whistled a forehand winner up the line and then shouted “Come on!”
It was a canny piece of territorial display from Raducanu, making her presence felt from the off. Stephens seemed rattled as she suffered a first-set “bagel” in only 16 minutes, collecting just four points along the way.
Performing media duties after her 6-0, 2-6, 6-1 defeat, Stephens told reporters “Everyone saw after the first point she gave like a massive scream.”
The 2017 US Open champion went on to be less than glowingly complimentary about Raducanu’s performance, saying “She played me, someone she’s ranking-wise supposed to beat. [Stephens stands 50 places lower down the ladder at No 68 in the world.] And, I mean, yeah, she won.”
As to the likelihood of Raducanu continuing her extraordinary trajectory up the world rankings, Stephens sounded unconvinced. “Because she is so young it’s definitely a long road, so there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs. I think she, yeah, has just a lot to learn.
“I was talking to someone in the locker-room,” Stephens added, “and I’m like, ‘We’ll be here when she comes down.’”
At this point, Stephens seemed to realise that she was in danger of sounding sour. “Not Emma,” she added hastily, “but just in general. It all is like a cycle, and I think learning how to deal with it early on is the best way to handle it. Just because there’s always a lot of ups and downs in tennis.”
As for Raducanu’s own take on the match, she revealed that she had taken inspiration from Andy Murray’s sweaty five-set victory earlier on the same day.
Forced into a deciding set for the first time in her grand-slam career, Raducanu hung superbly tough when it mattered, reducing her unforced error count while Stephens’s remained high.
She later explained that Murray’s dogged example had been in her mind, encouraging her to dig deeper during the concluding phase of her win.
Asked if she had been following his match on TV, she replied “I was, actually, because when I was in the third set, I thought ‘Andy was up a set. And then he got pushed to five. But he fought back so hard in the fifth set and took the decider.’
“So when I went to three [sets],” Raducanu added, “I was also thinking ‘Actually, I can fight back and win the decider.’ You know, fight like he did. So I was definitely inspired by him.”
Raducanu will now play world No 98 Danka Kovinic in the second round. Their match has been scheduled on Margaret Court Arena – the second-biggest stadium at Melbourne Park – and will begin at around 8am (GMT) on Thursday. (The Telegraph)
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Raducanu warned before ouster
Emma Raducanu was warned by her team not to play in the Australian Open second round because of a blister on her racquet hand that hampered the Briton in the defeat by Danka Kovinic.
The US Open champion, 19, raced into a 3-0 lead before needing treatment on her hand and losing the opening set.
She fought back to win the second set but was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-3 by the world number 98 on Margaret Court Arena.
Raducanu says she has been nursing the blister for about five days.
She has been “trying every solution” to tape the affected area because it “kept ripping off”.
“It has been a challenge, for sure,” she told BBC Sport. “The past few days I have been really hindered in my practice and couldn’t hit any forehands or serves at all.
“Some people in my team didn’t really want me to go out there. I wanted to go and fight and see how far that would take me.”