"There was no way I was going to pull out": Emma Raducanu says there was no way retirement was an option despite sickness in Australian Open loss

Friday, 19 January 2024 at 09:24

Emma Raducanu was dumped out of the 2024 Australian Open by Wang Yafan who will now face compatriot, Qinwen Zheng for a spot in the Last 16. She went down defeated 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in her comeback to the sport after injury.

It wasn't injury that stopped her this time though with sudden sickness and feeling weak during the third set as she had to have her blood pressure checked at one point due to the physical ordeal she was suffering.

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“Yeah, now I feel a little bit better. I had some time. During the match, I'd say, like, third set I was 30-Love up serving. Then all of a sudden just felt so sick, just really like weak and nauseous,“ Raducanu said.

“Throughout the third set I think everyone could see it was a bit of a battle. Like physically, body-wise, I felt fine. It was more I was throwing up in my mouth. Then after the match, it came out. Now I'm okay. Yeah, I'll get over it. It just sucks with the timing,” Raducanu added.

But never did the thoughts of quitting cross the mind of the former US Open champion especially after what she has been through over the last year with surgery and recovering from that and said that it has made her tougher.

“Honestly I've been in that situation before in matches, whether it was with illness or injury, and retired a few times. To be honest, with what I went through last year, you feel awful right now, at some point I couldn't really see the ball very well, but I think with everything I went through last year, it's made me so much tougher,” she continued.

“There was no way I was going to pull out. She was going to have to beat me, and she did. She served it out. I think the last year off and also just with the amount of niggles and everything that I had, the setbacks, it did make me a lot tougher."

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Emma Raducanu says there was no way she was going to retire from her match with illness, ‘she was going to have to beat me’: “How close were you to stopping? What kept you going in those moments?” Emma: “Honestly I've been in that situation before in matches, whether it was

2:07 PM · Jan 18, 2024

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