Emma Raducanu arrived in Paris towards the end of last week fully preoccupied by her recovery from the back spasms she had suffered days earlier. Her expectations accordingly lowered, she deservingly started her French Open on a high by demonstrating her mental toughness throughout an excellent, gritty 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win over Xinyu Wang of China to reach the second round at Roland Garros.
Raducanu will now face one of the toughest challenges possible in professional tennis as she takes on the four-timeFrench Openchampion Iga Swiatek. Swiatek, who is attempting to win an open era record fourth consecutive title at Roland Garros, opened her title defence with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Rebecca Sramkova and Raducanu said of the match-up: “I’m very happy to give myself another chance. I felt the noise around the match [against Swiatek] before we’d played the first round. I’m looking forward to going out there. There’s not much pressure on me.”
Before the tournament, the British player had struck a note of caution as she was uncertain about how her back would respond to the physical demands of matchplay. Beyond the question marks surrounding her condition, though, her progress on clay has been undeniable. She worked through three solid wins to reach the fourth round of the Italian Open and then she registered her first top 20 victory on clay against Daria Kasatkina last week in Strasbourg before her back flared up in her second round defeat by Danielle Collins.
With Mark Petchey, her ad-hoc coach, on commentary duty at the same time, Raducanu was supported on a packed court 8 by Jane O’Donoghue and the LTA coach Tom Welsh. She opened the match looking to punish Wang’s second serve and leading with her forehand, as she has done throughout the clay court season.
The past few months have seen a significant shift in Raducanu’s approach to the sport. Off the court, she has tried to find more balance and enjoyment in her life as opposed to the more regimented schedules that other players follow. On court, she has come closer to finding her identity by pairing her offensive mentality with greater variation. This was particularly visible against Wang, the WTA No43, with Raducanu continually mixing up her forehand with heavier topspin in contrast to Wang’s one-dimensional flatter hit.
Raducanu has also been extremely vocal in her recent matches, cheering after most winning points, which she believes is key to providing her with the energy she needs to play the attacking tennis she desires.
While her forehand was excellent throughout the match, Raducanu was unusually tentative with her trusty backhand early on, which crumpled under pressure as she failed to serve out the set at 5-4. Maintaining her composure, she immediately retrieved the break, but at 6-5 she called for the physio and doctor. She spent much of her medical timeout dabbing ice around her face while having her blood pressure and heart rate checked.
Afterwards, she admitted in an on-court interview: “I don’t feel great, I would have felt worse if I had lost. I was struggling from the start. “When you’re not feeling energetic, I knew I had to start well to give myself the best chance to keep fighting.”
Despite putting up an excellent, aggressive hold to seal the first set, the match had shifted. While Raducanu’s tension seeped into her serve, Wang gradually began to find her range and dominate the baseline exchanges. Raducanu soon found herself down 1-5, a final set beckoning. She dug deep, finding greater rhythm on her backhand and breaking serve twice with her best run of games in the match. At 4-5, however, Raducanu was punished for her poor first serve percentage under pressure.
No matter, Raducanu’s groundstrokes were in full flow and she continued to strike the ball with authority and ease off both wings early in set three. After breaking serve immediately, she continually played the biggest points with bold, unflinching aggression. It was never easy – two of her service breaks were earned from 40-0 down and then she failed to serve out the match at 5-2 after holding two match points – but Raducanu was rewarded for both her quality and fight as she closed out an impressive win.