Emma Raducanu blamed heavy fatigue and exhaustion on her dreadful Madrid Open performance and loss as the 21-year-old Briton is now planning to take some time off before resuming practice and tennis activities.
On Wednesday, Raducanu kicked off and also concluded her second Madrid campaign after qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle ousted her 6-2 6-2 in the first round.
After a couple of strong performances and results in the last few weeks, Raducanu entered the Carle match as the favorite. But in Madrid – not only that Raducanu failed to clinch another notable result – but she also looked unrecognizable on the court.
Before coming to Madrid, Raducanu led Great Britain to a hard-fought Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers win over France on the road and she also made the Stuttgart quarterfinal last week before losing to world No. 1 Iga Swiatek.
But against 82nd-ranked Carle, Raducanu lost her serve a total of five times and ended up losing with just four games won during the entire match.
Raducanu explains what went wrong against Carle
“I would say the last few weeks have been a lot. Starting from Billie Jean King Cup, I haven’t stopped,” Raducanu said after the loss.
“It’s just been back-to-back and I…
