EMPTY FEELING

It’s another learning curve as teen ace Raducanu finds hard-hitting Garcia just too tough on Centre Court

THERE are times when the nation is reminded Emma Raducanu is a girl who should be mainly grappling with the problems facing a teenager in modern society. This was one of them. Not only did the 19-year-old have to deal with a hardhitting, accomplished Caroline Garcia – a rival nine years her senior – she had to deal with the expectation, the pressure of a Centre Court’s sense of entitlement and the burden of being the poster player of these Championships.

Not only that, Raducanu came into Wimbledon seriously undercooked, withdrawing injured from her preparation tournament in Nottingham earlier in the month.

In contrast, Garcia, an ex-world No.4, won her warm-up event in Germany and has won seven grass court matches in a row.

It all proved too much for a youngster, whose US Open glory last year was – and will remain – one of the most remarkable achievements in British sport.

Not that there should be too many excuses for Raducanu against an unseeded French player (below) who has not been beyond the third round at SW19.

While Garcia’s game-plan – putting huge pressure on Raducanu’s weak second serve – worked to perfection, the truth is the Brit went down in a blaze of unforced errors. And apart from the moment when Raducanu, having lost the first set 6-3, broke back in the second set to level it at three apiece, there were precious few spells when she appeared to have any momentum.

Raducanu duly lost the next three games on the spin and, like most vanquished competitors, could not wait to exit stage left. Some people got a little bit miffed she did not acknowledge the support with real gusto. But, hey, she had just lost to a player ranked over 40 places below her and who she had beaten in their only previous meeting. What was she expected to do? Blow kisses to the punters? As usual, the social media reaction was a huge over-reaction. Onetournament wonder, too many commercial distractions, all that nonsense.

There may have been minor freakish elements to her fantastic triumph in New York in 2021 but no one wins a Grand Slam through pure luck.

OK, she has not won successive matches at a Grand Slam since, but that is no disgrace for someone essentially still a rookie.

The reality is Raducanu is a young player trying to learn the ropes of a brutally competitive professional sport.

Tim Henman was spot-on when he said: “It’s all a learning curve, but this is a bit of a reality check for Emma. There are a lot of very good players on the tour and Emma is learning her trade. She will go and lick her wounds and understand where she has to improve.”

This defeat clearly showed she needs to improve a lot but, there is also no reason to think she will not do just that.