Australian Open: Emma Raducanu learns she has ‘fight in me’ despite early Melbourne exit
- British teenager says she learned some key things about herself during the defeat to Danka Kovinic
- Raducanu played with painful blisters on her racket hand, and some members of her team had urged her to withdraw
Emma Raducanu says a key lesson from her first Australian Open is that “I’ve got that fight in me” after the teenager adapted her game and gritted her teeth to play through pain with nasty blisters.
It wasn’t enough for the 19-year-old US Open champion to stay in the hunt for a second grand slam title, falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic, but she said the experience was invaluable.
“I really enjoy playing the grand slams, I think that the takeaway is it’s tough,” she said. “I still think I can take some positives out of it. You know, I did discover elements of my game I didn’t know I had before, and I can use that going forward.
“And also, I just know that I’ve got that fight in me, even if I have got, like, one shot, I know that I can pull myself out of deep situations.”
The blisters on her right, racket hand, had been getting progressively worse since her arrival in Australia, to the point where some on her team had urged her not to play.
But she was determined to keep going and skilfully changed tactics against Kovinic, demonstrating her tenacity and intelligence in terms of problem-solving.