Steve Johnson cannot believe that this has happened to Emma Raducanu in her career.
Raducanu reached the Transylvania Open final last week, but she was unable to capture the title after suffering a heavy defeat in the final to Sorana Cirstea.
Despite losing in the championship match, Raducanu was still rewarded in the WTA rankings.
Following her final defeat in Cluj-Napoca, former top 30 player Johnson has reacted to a statistic about Raducanu which he thinks is ‘crazy’.
Steve Johnson explains what he finds ‘crazy’ about Emma Raducanu
Raducanu won the US Open in 2021 and she had not reached another final until last week at the Transylvania Open.
When discussing this on the Nothing Major podcast, Sam Querrey admitted he was surprised by this, with John Isner and Johnson reacting to this career statistic.
“I found this a little surprising,” said Querrey. “This is only the second final of Raducanu’s career.”
Isner responded, “There are not many comms for Raducanu’s career thus far. Just a big US Open final out of nowhere coming through qualies, wins it and then doesn’t make a final again for four years.”
Johnson added, “2021 US Open and this are her only two finals on Tour, which is crazy. It is crazy. She kind of has done her career backwards. She came on to the scene, won the biggest tournament of her career first and has now had the growing pains after.
“It’s good to be in the final but it’s crazy she has not been in another final since the 2021 US Open.”
While she was unable to win the title in Romania, there is still one Grand Slam champion who has spent longer without a WTA title than Raducanu.
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What is next for Emma Raducanu?
Despite feeling unwell at the Transylvania Open, Raducanu still decided to travel to Doha for the Qatar Open.
Playing a match just two days after the final in Cluj-Napoca, Raducanu was clearly still struggling with illness and retired in her match against Camila Osorio.
Raducanu is still yet to win a match in her career at the Qatar Open, but she will be able to bounce back very soon.
As part of the Middle Eastern swing, Raducanu will now travel to Dubai for the second WTA 1000 tournament of the year.
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Do you think this is a possibility?
This is part of a series of four consecutive WTA 1000 tournaments for Raducanu, with the sunshine double of Indian Wells and the Miami Open also coming up next month.
First up for Raducanu is the Dubai Tennis Championships, which begins on Sunday, February 15.
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