“I would say the last few weeks have been a lot”: Emma Raducanu reveals interesting reason behind first-round exit from Madrid Open

Britain’s tennis star Emma Raducanu gave an interesting excuse after suffering a surprising defeat in the Madrid Open. The 21-year-old has struggled with injury concerns in the recent past but returned to the court earlier this year after a gap of nearly 12 months. The former world number 10 lost to María Lourdes Carle of Argentina in the round of 128 in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2.

Talking after the match, Raducanu stated that she felt ‘mentally and physically exhausted’ which showed in the match on Wednesday. “I would say the last few weeks have been a lot,” she said. “I think from the performance today it was very clear that mentally and emotionally I was exhausted. I was trying to push through and I was just unable to push through today. I guess the sport is just pretty brutal.”

Raducanu further went on to highlight the absence of her coach Nick Cavaday “I definitely missed him not being here, so that kinda sucked,” she said. “I had Iain here, which was great that he was able to drop everything and come out. It’s not easy but then the circumstances wouldn’t align to how you want them to. I just didn’t really deal with everything too well.”