Emma Raducanu has been very transparent about her main goal for the upcoming period, and losing to Barbora Krejcikova in Seoul the way she did definitely won't help.
After making a splash coaching move and adding Rafael Nadal's former long-time team member Francisco Roig, Raducanu noted that she wasn't focused on the results but rather improving her game and becoming a better player. Specifically, the 22-year-old admitted that her big wish was to improve to the point where she could legitimately challenge and beat the best players in women's tennis.
While Krejcikova is ranked at No. 36 in the world, she won Wimbledon only 15 months earlier, and being sidelined for an extended period is the main reason why her rankings dropped. With that being said, the Czech former world No. 2 was definitely a big name to face and a great chance for Raducanu to clinch a major win.
ADVERTISEMENT
Through the first set and a half, Raducanu looked outstanding and comfortably led 6-4 5-2. That was before she suffered a stunning collapse as she missed out on a match point when serving for the match in the ninth game, and also blew a 5-2 second-set tie-break and two additional match points. The Briton paid the ultimate price for her missed opportunities as Krejcikova came back to win 4-6 7-6 (10) 6-1.
Had Raducanu won, she would have played against No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek in the Seoul quarterfinal.
What exactly Raducanu said about wanting to play and win against the biggest names?
"Playing these top opponents, you get a feel for it every time. Its difficult. Right now Im just working on developing and building my game... I need to play these top girls and I think a win against one of them gives you a lot of confidence in general, but I know I just need to keep doing the right things day to day and the results I cant really control. But I think Im just working towards getting closer and closer to the top ones," Raducanu explained in New York.
