French Open: Following her second-round exit at the French Open, Emma Raducanu reflected on a successful clay-court season and a busy 12 months.
Raducanu was eliminated from the Grand Slam competition on Wednesday after running out of steam against world No. 47 Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Everything was put into perspective for the Kent girl when she was reminded that a year ago this week she was playing in a British Tour tournament at the Connaught Club in Essex, a month after finishing her A-levels.
Raducanu has gone on to win the US Open, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon, and the second rounds of the French and Australian Open since that time a year ago.
“We were saying like with my team this morning, it’s pretty much a year anniversary since my comeback to competitive tennis. I was playing a Brit tour in Connaught,” Raducanu said.
“I think I have come a long way since then and I do really welcome going around the second time.
“I think this year was always going to be challenging for me to adjust, find my feet. There’s always something new. Like I’m always asking where everything is – I have no idea where everything is.
“It’s going to be a lot more familiar this time around. I feel like in the last 12 months I have definitely grown a lot.
“I think that it has been a pretty positive year just because I have learnt so much, and I think the amount of learning that I have kind of done outweighs any sort of result.”
Raducanu can learn a lot from her clay-court season, and a 6-5 win-loss record isn’t bad considering she only started playing professionally on the surface a month ago.
“I thought that it was a pretty long match, pretty physical as well,” she said of her 3-6 6-1 6-1 defeat to Sasnovich.
“I think my opponent played pretty well throughout and didn’t make any errors. It was a long match for me but the whole clay season has been pretty positive overall, I would say.”
Raducanu’s focus will now return to the grass, specifically Wimbledon, where her spectacular climb began. As a current Grand Slam champion, she returns to English courts and the grass-court major.
“It’s going to be really nice to go home and play on home turf, on the home grass,” she said. “It is going to be a little bit strange in the beginning, because I have played on a clay court for so long now, I feel like it’s been weeks.
“Like, going onto a grass court I’m probably going to be a bit shocked at first. But I’m really looking forward to playing in front of the fans at home, and just all the support.
“Last year I experienced a little taste of it, but I feel like this year might be a bit more. I’m just really looking forward to the atmosphere that’s going to be around.”
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