Emma Raducanu struggled to explain her first-round French Open exit (Image: Roland Garros)
Emma Raducanu struggled to explain her crushing 6-0 7-6(4) defeat at the French Open after bowing out in the first round here for the first time in her career. The British No. 1 was playing just the second match of her comeback after a post-viral illness sidelined her for more than two months, but was sent packing by world No. 68 Solana Sierra.
Raducanu lost the first set in just 25 minutes, hitting 15 unforced errors. She mounted a comeback in the second set after being 1-4 down but still lost in a tiebreak, and later admitted she couldn’t explain the brutal bagel set.
“I can’t really explain it right now. I haven’t processed it fully. I think it was really difficult,” a disappointed Raducanu said. “I went on the court. I felt like the conditions were extremely lively, and I felt like I wasn’t able to kind of trust my shots in that and didn’t feel like I had control over the ball.
“It was just a really difficult kind of setup for me to step into, I think, having not had many matches. I think probably just a bit light on matches, a bit light on confidence coming into the tournament.
“Yeah, the first set happened super quickly, and it’s not a nice feeling when the points and the games are going, like, very, very fast. I’m glad at least in the second set I was able to kind of, you know, get a few games on the board.
Raducanu had returned to competition in Strasbourg earlier this week, losing her opening match to Diane Parry in two-and-a-half hours. There had been questions over whether she’d skip the clay season altogether and focus on grass, but the world No. 37 still believes her two losses will help.
“I mean, yeah, in hindsight, you know, after the two matches I’ve played, it could have been nice to have saved yourself the match, like today,” she admitted.
Emma Raducanu was bagelled in the first set but fought back in the second before losing (Image: Getty)
“I think it will help me. I think I haven’t played matches, and it’s obviously very difficult coming in not having had any matches, you know, towards the back end of the clay season and these girls, you know, having tournament after tournament of confidence and wins. So I think that was pretty tricky for me.
“I didn’t necessarily do as well as I’d like to this year, but I think the only way to kind of face and improve how I’m feeling is to go through the tough parts, to go through the pain of it, and hopefully come out on the other side better and stronger.”
It’s been a year of setbacks for Raducanu, whose pre-season was derailed by a foot injury, before the viral illness reared its head in February. She played in Doha, Dubai and Indian Wells, but then skipped tournaments in Miami, Linz, Madrid and Rome.
And the 23-year-old is no stranger to a setback. In her young career, she’s had plenty of injuries and illness issues, and had triple surgery in 2023. When asked what her mindset was while going through it all, Raducanu teared up a little.
“Yeah, it’s very difficult. I think you need a lot of resilience. I think I’m trying my best each day, and I think that’s all I can ask of myself,” she said.
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