Emma cracks on clay... but still aiming to break mould

Brit looks forward to green grass of home after Roland Garros exit

Emma RaDUCaNU steps on to the grass next month having finally come full circle after a year which turned her life on its head. Twelve months will have passed since she played the Viking Open in Nottingham, where she lost in the first round, before a few hundred people in virtual anonymity.

When the end came yesterday to this extraordinary first phase of her top-line career it did so in the most deflating fashion, a deciding set running away from her.

On the French Open’s Court Suzanne Lenglen she went down 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to Belarusian aliaksandra Sasnovich. She will be outlasted at Roland Garros by compatriot Cam Norrie, who powered through to the third round with a straight sets win over australia’s Jason Kubler.

Raducanu’s defining moment of the last year was, of course, winning the US Open. Since then Sasnovich has beaten her twice, and both times she has played with a fervour which supports the Brit’s theory about what has been the most abrupt change of all.

‘It’s different when you are someone who may have a target on their back,’ she reflected. ‘Everyone raises their game, wants to play well, wants to take you out. That’s something I have definitely learned this year and accepted.’

She is now looking forward to returning to places that will seem more familiar — she is not entered in Nottingham next month, but may decide to play after this relatively early exit from Paris. ‘I welcome going around the second time,’ she said. ‘This year was always going to be challenging for me to adjust, find my feet. There’s always something new, like I’m always asking where everything is.

‘In the last 12 months I have grown a lot. On court I feel like I have probably improved how much I fight. That’s one of my biggest strengths and even more so on the tour this year — it’s opened my eyes to just how good everyone is and how much depth there is in the game.

‘It has been a pretty positive year just because I have learnt so much and the amount of learning I have done outweighs any sort of result.

‘I don’t approach things crazily differently off the court. I’m exactly the exact same person as

I was 12 months ago but yeah, things around me have changed.’

Raducanu will head back to the UK with a 6-5 match record from her first campaign on the clay courts of Europe. That is a decent enough return under the circumstances as her ranking settles down to its true level, which is perhaps around 30 places lower than its official listing of 12.

‘There are definitely aspects of my game that need to improve and catch up to where my ranking is,’ she conceded. ‘I’m happy with the progress I’m making. I had no expectations (for the clay) — I put myself in four tournaments in a row, thinking I was going to lose first round in every one, but I played a few matches in each.’

Such comments are designed to manage expectations which, externally at least, will be off the charts in the lead-in to Wimbledon. During the grass season she will be under huge scrutiny, with the likes of John mcEnroe weighing in.

The american legend again questioned her approach to coaching last night, saying: ‘If I won the US Open having gone through qualifying, I wouldn’t change my coach at least for the next year, so I don’t understand that move. This idea of a revolving door of coaches I don’t think is good for any player, much less so a player at this stage of her career.’

Grass generates its own pace and she will not be locked into the kind of slugfest offered up by Sasnovich, who transformed their match by launching a blizzard of winners in the second set. The pivotal game came at 1-1 in the decider when Raducanu forced five break points. On the first one, the Kent teenager missed a forehand, before Sasnovich played the next four with aplomb.

The US Open champion faded after that, something British crowds will ensure does not happen over the next month.

While Dan Evans plays today against Sweden’s mikael Ymer, Norrie will prepare for a third round against Russian Karen Khachanov, the 21st seed with a strong record at Roland Garros.

The British men’s No1 beat Kubler 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, underlining how difficult he now is to beat.

2 Moving into the grass season, Emma Raducanu has just two wins against top-50 ranked opponents this year — a sign that better players are targeting her weaknesses

4 In four of her five losses this year, she has won the first set. She’s also dropped the second set in a further three of her wins