Blisters deal Emma a bad hand and exit
EMMA RADUCANU insisted she was proud of her fighting spirit after battling in vain to overcome painful blisters during her Australian Open defeat to Danka Kovinic yesterday.
The US Open champion was beaten 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in a bizarre match that saw her reduced to hitting slice forehands because of a blister on her right hand.
Raducanu took a medical time-out for treatment after only five games and was hampered throughout but somehow won the second set before going down to the Montenegrin in three.
The 19-year-old, forced off court for three weeks last month after contracting Covid-19, said: ‘I have been struggling with blisters since I started playing really in Australia because 21 days, no tennis, my hands got pretty soft.
‘From day one, day two, I was getting blisters pop up here and there. This particular one has been with me for about five days and I have been trying to tape it for every practice, and it would harden and dry out, but then once I would play again, another layer would just keep ripping off.
‘It ended up being pretty deep. It’s a bit annoying because I know it’s something that will heal in a few days, but it’s just unfortunate timing.
‘I thought it was a pretty good learning experience for me. I discovered tools about myself and my game that I didn’t know I had before so I can take some positives even from this match.’
By the start of the second set, Raducanu was hitting almost exclusively slice forehands – a rarely-used shot in the professional game – but it unsettled world No.98 Kovinic and she managed to take the second set, smiling and laughing at the absurdity of it all.
A sharp wince while she received more treatment ahead of the third set showed just what Raducanu was dealing with and, although she managed to hit through her forehand a little more in the deciding set, it was not enough.
She said of her necessary innovation: ‘That was definitely one thing I learned, that a nice slice forehand is not so bad and I have some sort of hand skills. To get that second set with basically one shot, I can’t believe it really.’
IT WAS reasonable for Australia’s immigration minister to conclude Novak Djokovic holds anti-vaccination views and could be a threat to public health. That was the conclusion of judges who heard his case, with their reasons published yesterday. Djokovic was deported after Alex Hawke’s decision to cancel his visa was upheld. The judges said: ‘It was plainly open to the minister to infer Mr Djokovic had chosen not to be vaccinated because he was opposed to vaccination or did not wish to be vaccinated. An iconic world tennis star may influence people of all ages. ‘The capacity of his presence in Australia to encourage those who would emulate or wish to be like him is a rational foundation for the view he might foster anti-vaccination sentiment.’