Emma Raducanu shared a positive update on her fitness after crashing out of the Eastbourne International.
After beating Jessica Pegula to secure arguably her biggest win since claiming the 2021 US Open, the Brit came crashing back to earth on Thursday.
She took on Daria Kasatkina in blustery conditions and managed to claim just four games in the quarter-final contest.
Despite the crushing loss, the 21-year-old remained in good spirits and is looking ahead to competing at Wimbledon once again.
Emma Raducanu is feeling good despite Eastbourne defeat
Raducanu struggled with the wind on England’s south coast as she committed 29 unforced errors throughout 14 the games played.
The former British number one had her serve broken six times and Kasatkina registered break points in all but one of Raducanu’s service games.
Though she made 70% of her first serves, Raducanu only won 43% of the points behind them, in contrast to the 70% Kasatkina won behind her own serve.
After crashing out of the tournament after the one hour and 21-minute contest, Raducanu did not blame any hangover from the Pegula victory on her defeat.
“I wasn’t tired at all. I was feeling really good. I think I just dealt with the circumstances badly,” she said post-match. “I was very inflexible in my approach. That’s my honest reflection of the match. But physically I’m in a really good spot. I’m fine.
“I just need to learn to be more willing to adapt. I hadn’t really played many matches in that level of wind. Daria actually plays really good in those conditions, because she makes it very awkward for the opponent. I just think she handled it a lot better.”
What did Annabel Croft say about Emma Raducanu after her Eastbourne defeat?
Kasatkina recorded the second successive win over Raducanu after claiming their first meeting in Ostrava back in 2022.
Since returning to the grass Raducanu has reached the semi-finals in Nottingham and quarter-finals at Eastbourne.
This bodes well for Wimbledon and pundit Annabel Croft is encouraged by what she saw. “It had its moments where you could see Kasatkina was stressing a bit, I just felt like she (Raducanu) lost energy,” she said on commentary for BBC Sport.
“But two excellent wins, huge confidence-boosters. First time she’s beaten a top 10 player in Pegula and she’s got to be going into Wimbledon with as much confidence as she possibly can.”
Who will Emma Raducanu play at Wimbledon?
Raducanu’s attention is firmly focused on Wimbledon after her Eastbourne campaign came to an end.
The former World number 11 will play at the All-England Club for the first time since 2022 and she will begin her campaign against 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The Russian began the grass court season with a run to the Libema Open semi-finals where she lost to eventual champion Liudmila Samsonova.
The 29-year-old produced her best performance at a Grand Slam when she reached the Wimbledon fourth round in 2023.
This is a tricky opening round encounter for Raducanu but she will have the crowd behind her as she attempts to reach the second round.
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