Raducanu’s wait for a first US Open win since her memorable triumph in 2021 goes on after a first-round loss to Sofia Kenin. It was a tough draw for the Briton in a battle of former grand slam champions and it could have gone either way. But a loose service game from Raducanu midway through the first set ultimately proved costly.
Raducanu opted to skip the Olympic Games in order to prepare for the US Open, but she ended up playing only three matches in Washington and one in New York. She returned to London for a training block rather than enter qualifying at tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati. Before the US Open began she was steadfast in her assessment that she is suited to training blocks rather than entering every tournament, but losing in the first round suggests that approach backfired.
Who decides her schedule?
Raducanu has been careful with her schedule this year as she recovers from double wrist and ankle surgery in 2023. But there is a suggestion that she is not in total control of her diary as sponsors and management want to protect her image and avoid the possible bad PR of failing to qualify for tournaments. Raducanu said it was not entirely her decision to play so little before the US Open: “It wasn’t just me. It was more of a collective call and that’s what happened, and I can’t really change it.”
The 21-year-old says she is going to manage her schedule “slightly differently” going forward, which presumably means entering more tournaments. She added: “I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel really good, you feel like everything’s automatic. I can learn from it.”
When will she play next?
She is scheduled to play in Seoul in the middle of September and is then likely to play other events in the Far East – in Hong Kong and China, where her mother was born.You
