The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Raducanu’s zero expectations as she makes meek SW19 exit
Emma Raducanu shrugged off talk of pressure on her shoulders as “a joke” and insisted reaching the second round of Wimbledon was something to be proud of.
Living up to the hype has proved impossible for the 19-year-old so far and, a year after rocketing to stardom with a run to the fourth round and then achieving the unthinkable in New York, she slipped to a meek 6-3 6-3 loss to France’s Caroline Garcia on Centre Court.
It was undoubtedly an anti-climax but hardly surprising given the results Raducanu has had since her US Open triumph and, most significantly, the side strain that severely disrupted her preparations.
“I didn’t feel anything out there,” the British No 1 said of the injury.
“I declared myself fully fit when I walked out on to the court on the first day.
“But I’ve played seven hours of tennis in a month. To even compete with these girls at this level and win a round I think is a pretty good achievement.
“Obviously it’s tough to lose any match but I think that Caroline played a great match. She is a great player. I struggled to find a way through her today.
“But it’s OK because, coming into this, I didn’t really have many expectations of myself. Playing on Centre Court again was a really positive experience for me.”
Raducanu’s mantra this tournament has very much been that, whatever she achieved last year, she remains a relative novice with everything to gain simply from experiencing these environments.
She has handled questions about her status in the game with patience but allowed exasperation to show when the issue of pressure was again raised.
“There’s no pressure,” she said. “Like, why is there any pressure? I’m still 19. It’s a joke. I literally won a slam.
“Yes, I have had attention. But I’m a slam champion, so no one’s going to take that away from me. If anything, the pressure is on those who haven’t done that.”
Hopes for her secondround match were boosted by Raducanu having won her only previous clash against Garcia in Indian Wells in March.
The Frenchwoman is ranked down at 55 but, having been tipped as a future world No 1 by Andy Murray as a teenager, has been as high as number four.
She struggled in the first round against Britain’s Yuriko Miyazaki but had arrived late from Germany, where she won a tournament on grass at the weekend.
Garcia had promised to be aggressive and she was as good as her word, stepping into the court on Raducanu’s second serve in particular and looking to take control with her backhand.
Blustery conditions caused issues for both players but it was Garcia who was able to hit through them and, although Raducanu battled as hard as she could to stay in contention, she was ultimately outplayed.
Harriet Dart became the 10th British player to make it through to the second round with a thumping win over Rebeka Masarova.
Dart, ranked 94 in the world, put in an impressive display to win 6-1 6-4, making it the best home performance at Wimbledon since 1984.
The 25-year-old will face eighth seed Jessica Pegula in the second round.
Heather Watson missed the chance to book her place in the third round as bad light stopped her match with China’s Wang Qiang. The British No 4, who has admitted she has underachieved in recent years, was serving for the match at 7-5 5-3, but Wang hit back and then play was suspended.
Watson has not been in the third round of a grand slam since 2017.
● Second seed Anett Kontaveit spent only 58 minutes on Court One before she went down 6-4 6-0 to Jule Niemeier in round two.
Estonian Kontaveit was able to win her first round tie with Bernarda Pera on Monday but revealed after her exit that she was still suffering with the after effects of testing positive for coronavirus earlier in the year.
Former Wimbledon winner Garbine Muguruza was also knocked out yesterday but in the first round to Greet Minnen.
Ninth seed Muguruza won just seven points in the second set and was visibly emotional on her way to a 6-4 6-0 defeat.
There was no such trouble for third seed Ons Jabeur, who thrashed Katarzyna Kawa 6-4 6-0 despite being hastily arranged to play on Court 12.
It was also the case for fifth seed Maria Sakkari after she got the better of Viktoriya Tomova 6-4 6-3.
In the all-Ukrainian battle between Anhelina Kalinina and Lesia Tsurenko, it was the latter who triumphed 3-6 6-4 6-3.