"It was the complete opposite today": Laura Robson highlights reason behind Iga Swiatek's superiority over Emma Raducanu during Australian Open third-round win

Former Britain’s tennis player Laura Robson believes that Emma Raducanu’s recent defeat against world number two Iga Swiatek will be a ‘learning curve’. The 22-year-old, who was once regarded as the next big thing after winning the US Open at the age of 18 back in 2021, was knocked out from the Australian Open after suffering a thumping defeat to the former world number one with a score of 6-1, 6-0.

Former British player Robson has been recently quoted in a report by Eurosport where she talked about Raducanu’s performance on the big day against one of the best players in the world. The 30-year-old also highlighted some positives for one-time Grand Slam winner on an overall disappointing day and stated that the real difference between the players was the intensity of Swiatek.

"The positive was that she was moving well, and when she was able to stay in the rally she was able to put in some good points," she said. "But the difference was the intensity between the two of them. Iga has played that kind of match 55 times in the last year, and on the big points she knows what to do - on the more important points she was able to step it up another gear. Whereas Emma didn’t play coming into here, she played two very different opponents in the first two rounds who gave her a lot of unforced errors. It was the complete opposite today. Iga gave her absolutely nothing to work with and she’s such a good front-runner.”

Robson further went on to state that the match will be a great ‘learning curve’. “In many ways, it will be a learning curve for Emma to get back to the drawing board, and think 'okay, if I want to challenge these top players, I need to train with this intensity and play matches with this intensity',” she said. “Some of this she knows but it was the real standout of what was on show today. When you step up to this level, Swiatek has played so many third rounds of slams, she’s comfortable. The sharpness was there every time she stepped up to the line and if you aren’t used to that kind of rhythm and pace and power coming onto your racquet, it’s very hard to keep up. I honestly think it’s one of those matches you learn a lot from, you get back on the practice court and you’re excited to do that."