“That willingness just didn’t seem evident”: Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup captain criticises Emma Raducanu for giving excuse after defeat in Madrid Open opener

Billie Jean King Cup Britain’s captain Anne Keothavong has criticised young tennis star Emma Raducanu for her interesting excuse after a poor performance in the Madrid Open.

The 21-year-old suffered a rather humiliating exit from the ongoing WTA 1000 event in the Spanish capital as she lost to Argentina’s Maria Lourdes Carle in the round of 128 in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2.

After the match, the former world number 10 stated that one of the primary reasons why she was not able to perform the way she would’ve wanted was because she was ‘mentally and physically’ exhausted.

Keothavong, who captained Raducanu during the recent phase of the Billie Jean King Cup, was recently quoted in a report where she criticised the 2021 US Open champion for giving such an excuse after a disappointing performance.

She touched on the fact, ‘Yes, I’m tired’,” said the 40-year-old. “She acknowledged that in her interview yesterday (Tuesday), but now when I look back, do you talk yourself into more tiredness?

“On one hand, it’s good to acknowledge it but on the other hand, if you’re going to go out there on the match court, you’ve got to be prepared to leave it all out there. That willingness just didn’t seem evident.

“Should she have taken the wild card this week? When the wild card is there, it’s a big event and for most players you are going to say, ‘Thank you very much, that’s a great opportunity.’ It’s a WTA 1000 and potentially big points on the board that will move her ranking from where it is at the moment [No 221].

“But when you see a player perform like that, you kind of question, ‘OK, maybe physically I wasn’t ready for it, mentally I wasn’t engaged and actually I probably could have done with the week off.’ Maybe in hindsight it would have been better to take this week off and go to play qualifying in Rome [the Italian Open starts next week].”