Emma Raducanu was easily beaten by Anhelina Kalinina in a 6-0, 7-6 defeat at the Qatar Open which saw her admit that she was struggling with everything during that clash. Others took to social media to criticise that she attended an event in Dubai two days before playing. Marion Bartoli believes that she has potential to return to the top 10, but with a caveat.
Bartoli said that she has to put in a lot of work to do so and that in her mind despite all the criticism that has come as a result, the shot making and ability is still there despite the poor display against Kalinina. Albeit that she was struggling physically.
Raducanu will not play in Dubai next week with her ranking too low to even enter qualifying so a return at Indian Wells and Miami is more likely. The signs have been good at times, but the former US Open champion has hit a stumbling block and how she navigates it will be the interesting next step.
“I felt towards the end of the second set she was getting a little tired and they had two really long points when Emma was up 6-5 in the tie-break and you can see on the match point she was basically struggling physically, so it’s all of that you have to take in,” said Bartoli on Sky Sports.
“A huge debrief has to be done with her team as to what’s going on now that she’s been able to play a few tournaments back to back and really come up with a plan because you can see some of the shots are still there.
“You can see that if she put it together she has absolutely the potential to come back in that top 10 but a lot of work needs to be done.”
Raducanu after crushing Qatar Open loss
Emma Raducanu on her way to the court for her Doha R1 match pic.twitter.com/MbKAPbcsC9
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