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Novak Djokovic shut down concerns about his eye problem and a possible new injury after his loss to world No 32 Alejandro Tabilo at the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters.

The 37-year-old Serbian broke Tabilo in the opening game of the second round contest, but was badly out of sorts thereafter as he slumped to a 3-6, 4-6 defeat.

The 24-time major winner was broken three times by the 27-year-old Chilean, while he struck 29 unforced errors in a match that lasted less than 90 minutes.

Djokovic was playing his first match of the 2025 clay-court season, having been a runner-up in Miami at the end of March at his previous event.

Here is everything Novak Djokovic said to reporters in a brief press conference after his Monte Carlo exit.

Q. It wasn’t the best day in the office for you today…

DJOKOVIC: Best day (laughs)?

Q. Not the best day…

DJOKOVIC: It was actually more like the worst day. Look, I was hoping this is not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way. I don’t know, just horrible. Horrible feeling to play this way and I’m just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.”

Q. You have at least one explanation?

DJOKOVIC: I don’t know. I don’t have it. I have it and I don’t have it. I don’t really care.

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Q. Earlier they showed you grabbing your arm on the practice court and someone on your team helping you with it, as well?

DJOKOVIC: No, it’s all good. It’s all good. Just a minor, minor thing.

Q. And is your eye okay?

DJOKOVIC: There’s no injury.

Q. Tough one, I imagine. What’s your goal for this season on clay?

DJOKOVIC: Roland Garros.

Q. Roland Garros? That’s it?

DJOKOVIC: That’s it (smiling).

Q. I understand your mood, but the other day you said you didn’t have expectation, and I was surprised, because you should have always expectations.

DJOKOVIC: Well, I expected myself at least to have put a decent performance. Not like this, I mean this is horrible. I did not have high expectations, really. I knew I’m gonna have a tough opponent, and I knew I’m gonna probably play pretty bad. But this bad… I didn’t expect.

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Novak Djokovic apologised to everyone who had to “witness” his Monte Carlo Masters contest against Alejandro Tabilo after a surprise defeat to the world No 32.

In his first clay-court match of the season, third seed and world No 5 Djokovic was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Tabilo – a man who had held a underwhelming 3-9 record for 2025 until beating the Serbian.

The Chilean had previously beaten Djokovic in Rome, and is now one of just three men to have played multiple matches against Djokovic without tasting defeat.

Defeat for the 24-time Grand Slam champion extended a poor run in Monte Carlo, with Djokovic having failed to reach the final since winning the title for a second time in 2015.

It also means that the 37-year-old will lose 390 points after failing to match his semi-final run from 2024, putting his hopes of a top-four seeding at the French Open in jeopardy.

Djokovic came into Monte Carlo off the back of a good run at the Miami Open two weeks ago, having reached his first final of the season in Florida.

Many had backed the Serbian to triumph in Monte Carlo ahead of the tournament, though Djokovic admitted before the tournament that a lingering eye infection was impacting his form.

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And, in a damning assessment of his performance against Tabilo, the 37-year-old claimed that he had failed to meet his already low pre-tournament expectations.

“I expected myself at least to have put in a decent performance. Not like this. It was horrible,” Djokovic said.

“I did not have high expectations. I knew I’m going to have a tough opponent and I knew I’m going to probably play pretty bad. But this bad, I didn’t expect.

“I was hoping it was not going to happen, but it was quite a high probability I’m going to play this way. I don’t know. [It was] just horrible.

“A horrible feeling to play this way, and just sorry for all the people that have to witness this.”

Victory for Tabilo follows a battling three-set win over Stan Wawrinka in the opening round, and represents the first time he has recorded back-to-back wins this season.

“It’s been a tough year,” said Tabilo. “So the nerves were there a bit. I tried to remember what I did well last time.

“Thank God I served well today. It helped me a lot to regroup my game after that first game. It was an unreal match I think.”

The Chilean, who has a career-high ranking of 19th, will next face 15th seed Grigor Dimitrov.

Bulgarian star Dimitrov battled from a set down to beat wildcard Valentin Vacherot 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 on Wednesday.

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Novak Djokovic has lost a big opportunity to make up ground in the ATP Rankings as he fell to a shock defeat to Alejandro Tabilo in his first match at the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters.

The Serbian was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Tabilo in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament.

Djokovic broke the world No 32 in the first game of the match, but lost his own serve in the second and quickly found himself in trouble.

The former world No 1 failed to break Tabilo again in the match, with his only other chances coming late in the second set as his opponent sealed a convincing win.

The 24-time major winner now has a 0-2 record against Tabilo, having lost to the 27-year-old Chilean at last year’s Italian Open.

Tabilo, who held a 3-9 record in 2025 prior to the match, said: “It’s been a tough year. So the nerves were there a bit. I tried to remember what I did well last time.

“Thank God I served well today. It helped me a lot to regroup my game after that first game. It was an unreal match I think.”

On losing his first six matches of the year, Tabilo added: “It’s just been some tough times… personal. But we’ve been trying to take care of it. Match by match we’ve been getting a bit looser. Just so happy now that I’m feeling better.”

Djokovic, the world No 5, arrived in Monte Carlo in good form after reaching the final of the Miami Open, where he lost to Jakub Mensik.

The tennis great’s strong run in Miami improved his prospects of returning to the top four in the rankings — which could be important to his Grand Slam hopes.

This is because the top four seeds cannot play each other until the semi-finals at any tournament, which tends to be advantageous.

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At the Australian Open, a seventh-seeded Djokovic had to face Carlos Alcaraz in the last eight, and although he won the match, it certainly made his route harder.

Djokovic, the world No 5, had a great chance to close the gap to world No 4 Taylor Fritz in Monte Carlo as the American pulled out of the event.

However, the 37-year-old will finish the tournament 1,160 points adrift of the American after being only 770 behind at the start.

This is because Djokovic reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo in 2024 and he will, therefore, drop 390 points due to his second round exit this time.

The Serbian was on the same side of the Monte Carlo draw as top seed Alexander Zverev, who lost his first match on Tuesday.

Djokovic will have further opportunities at the Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome, while Fritz is set to play the ATP 500 tournament in Munich next week.

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The post Novak Djokovic suffers blow in French Open seed race with shocking Monte Carlo loss appeared first on Tennis365.

Novak Djokovic’s latest attempt at winning a 100th ATP Tour title has ended at the first hurdle.

The fifth seed was stunned in straight sets in his opening match at the Monte Carlo Masters, falling 6-3, 6-4 to world No 32 Alejandro Tabilo.

Victory for Tabilo extends a significant run in Monte Carlo for the Chilean, who battled past another former champion – Stan Wawrinka – in the first round.

And, it also maintains his perfect record against Djokovic.

Tabilo has played the former world No 1 twice and has won both times, making him one of just three men to play Djokovic multiple times – and never taste defeat.

Alejandro Tabilo (2-0)

Former world No 19 Tabilo has faced Djokovic on clay the past two years – and has beaten the Serbian on both occasions.

The Chilean dominated Djokovic when they met at the Italian Open last May, breezing past the six-time Rome champion with a 6-2, 6-3 third-round victory over the then-world No 1.

Despite that, Tabilo was a significant underdog heading into this clash; he had a disappointing 3-9 record for 2025 before this match, while Djokovic came in off reaching the Miami Open final.

However, in a match not too dissimilar from their Rome encounter almost 12 months ago, Tabilo made a flat Djokovic pay with another impressive straight-sets victory.

Marat Safin (2-0)

Perhaps the least surprising name on this list is Safin, a former world No 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion at the peak of his powers.

The Russian won the second of his two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open in 2005 – and beat Djokovic on his way to glory.

Having come through qualifying to make his Grand Slam main draw debut, a 17-year-old Djokovic was drawn against Safin in round one – and was thrashed 6-0, 6-2, 6-1.

Three years later, the two met in the second round of Wimbledon – and this time the Serbian was the favourite to win.

Djokovic was the third seed and the reigning Australian Open champion, while Safin had fallen down the rankings.

However, the Russian channelled past glories with a scintillating display, stunning the world No 3 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2, ultimately going on to reach the last four.

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Jiri Vesely (2-0)

In one of the craziest stats in tennis history, Vesely – a man who has never been ranked inside the top 30 of the ATP Rankings – has a perfect 2-0 record against the 24-time Grand Slam champion.

Much like with Tabilo, one of Vesely’s two wins over Djokovic came in the second round of Monte Carlo.

Nine years ago, Djokovic came into the 2016 Monte Carlo Masters as the reigning champion and as a dominant world No 1 – only to be stunned 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by the Czech in his opener.

Six years later, the two met for a second time, and once again it was Vesely who proved to be a surprise victor.

The former world No 35 defeated Djokovic 6-4, 7-6(4) in the quarter-final of the Dubai Tennis Championships, the most recent meeting between the two.

Djokovic and Vesely were set to face off in the second round of the 2016 US Open, though the Czech was forced to withdraw pre-match.

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The post The 3 men to hold a 2-0 record over Novak Djokovic: Alejandro Tabilo joins exclusive club appeared first on Tennis365.

Carlos Alcaraz brushed off a shaky start in his first match of the clay season to earn a convincing victory over Francisco Cerundolo at the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters.

The four-time major champion prevailed 3-6, 6-0, 6-1 against Cerundolo on Court Rainier III in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament.

Alcaraz looked in trouble in the opening game of the second set as he had to fend off two break points, but he dropped just one game thereafter as he blew the world No 22 off the court.

“Well, I didn’t start well,” the Spaniard admitted in his on-court interview. “I just wanted to get the good pace at the beginning of the match, but I think I made a lot of mistakes.

“I think I let him play inside the court, dominate the points, so I was more in the defensive part.

“So after the first set, I just knew that I had to do something else. I had to play more aggressively, I had to play my own tennis. I just enjoy that tennis, you know, drop shots, going to the net, playing more aggressive. I think I did it pretty well.

“I think the first and the most important adjustment was the return. I just tried to return more close to the line, just pushing him to defence [on] the first ball, and after that, playing good shots and dominate the game. I think I did it pretty well.”

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After his victory, Alcaraz expressed his appreciation for this period of the tennis season as he wrote “I missed clay” on the camera lens.

Carlos Alcaraz signs the camera after beating Cerundolo in Monte Carlo:

“I missed clay!” pic.twitter.com/VCD8JvC69S

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 9, 2025

Asked where he ranks clay on his list of favourite surfaces, Alcaraz said: “I don’t know. I always say that, until now, I always put it (clay) second, I prefer to play on hard-court.

“Right now, I don’t know, I’m gonna put it first. I just missed the clay season, yeah, since the Olympic Games that I haven’t played on clay.

“And I think I love this part of the year, I love watching the matches here on clay, I grew up playing on this surface. So I’m gonna put it [number] 1, first (smiles).”

The world No 3 will play 84th-ranked Daniel Altmaier in the third round.

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The post Carlos Alcaraz reacts to shaky Monte Carlo start as he reveals ‘most important adjustment’  appeared first on Tennis365.

Emma Raducanu has opted to take a short break from tennis following her impressive run to the quarter-finals of the Miami Open and her clay-court plans are now being firmed up.

Raducanu pulled out of Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup ties in the Netherlands this week and next week’s WTA 250 tournament in Rouen, France, as she looked to take a few days away from competitive action after a long run in Miami.

There was some uncertainty over when Raducanu would return to action, with some suggestions that she would look to play her first event of the clay-court campaign in Madrid later in April.

Raducanu’s name is still on the entry list for the Madrid Open, which gets underway on April 22, and now her name has appeared on the list of competitors for the Italian Open in Rome, which starts on May 6.

The 2021 US Open champion turned in a poor performance as she lost in the first round in Madrid last year and she was forced to retire in the only match she played in Rome back in 2022.

There will be 1,000 ranking points up for grabs for the winner in Madrid and Rome, with big hauls also available to players who enjoy a deep run in the competition.

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With just 108 ranking points to defend during the clay-court season, Raducanu has a great chance to climb the WTA Rankings, with her absence from last year’s French Open giving her a real chance to leap the list if she can make progress at Roland Garros.

While the 22-year-old lacks experience on clay courts, she turned in some impressive performances on the red dirt while playing for Great Britain in last year’s Bille Jean King Cup in France and she will be a player to watch over the next few weeks if she can find a winning formula on an unfamiliar surface.

After being heavily criticised for not playing enough tournaments in 2024, Raducanu has had a much more active schedule this year, with former British No 1 Tim Henman backing her decision-making on her schedule this year.

“If she can stay healthy and competes a lot, the results will come because she’s that good,” said Sky Sports Tennis analyst Henman.

“If she wasn’t good enough, you’d say she has to pick her tournaments and play some weaker events. With Emma, if she stays healthy, I’m convinced the results will follow.

“I never thought it was about her level. When she has played, her level has always been very good, but if you look at the breakdown of her ranking last year, I think she played 33 matches and 11 of them were on grass.

“When you look at the other 10 months of the year, to have only played 22 matches is so few. She is aware of that, I’m sure, and she will get a coach at the right moment, but for me, the physical work she is doing is most significant.

“I’ve always been a big, big advocate of playing matches. I always played a lot of matches and Emma is right to do that now.

“She talks about having fun and being authentic, which gives her the opportunity to express herself on the court. That being said, she does it differently. She is very comfortable. She’s changed coaches.

“That’s not necessarily what everyone else likes to do, but she’s comfortable changing that up.

“But for me, as Marion touched upon, building physical resilience, I think is the most important thing. That is what has been lacking because she’s almost had her career back to front, qualifying and winning that Grand Slam without really the physical foundation. Her body was breaking down when she was in competition.

“I think the big positive this year is that she’s been able to compete more consistently and hopefully the results are going to come.”

It should be noted that even though Raducanu’s name appears on the entry list for the WTA 1000 tournaments in Madrid and Rome, she could still opt to withdraw if she decides she needs more time away from the game.

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Alexander Zverev’s hopes of becoming world No 1 before Jannik Sinner returns to the tour are over after he lost his first match at the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters to Matteo Berrettini.

Berrettini made an impressive fightback to prevail 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Court Rainier III in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament.

The Italian’s victory over Zverev — the world No 2 — is the biggest win of his career by ranking and his 11th against a top 10 player.

The world No 34, who has been ranked as high as sixth, revealed what helped him turn the match around after losing a one-sided opening set.

“The game plan was the same but I changed my attitude and the way I was believing in my strokes,” Berrettini explained.

“I wasn’t hitting my forehand and serve like I had in previous days and I had to adapt and adjust to the conditions and Sascha was playing unbelievable, so it was not easy. Then I told myself to be more aggressive and if I am going to lose this match, I am going to do the right things and luckily it worked.”

Zverev’s defeat extends his dismal run of form since he lost to Sinner in the Australian Open final in January.

The Australian Open is the only tournament that Sinner has played so far in 2025, with the world No 1 sidelined due to a three-month doping ban.

The Italian’s absence presented Zverev with the best opportunity of his career to reach the top of the ATP Rankings.

The three-time Grand Slam finalist has struggled badly, though, having amassed a 6-6 record since the Australian Open.

At the six tournaments he has played during Sinner’s ban, Zverev has lost his opening match twice and failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals anywhere.

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Zverev’s results in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami left him with a very slim chance of overtaking Sinner during the clay-court season.

The 27-year-old’s loss to Berrettini, however, has ruled out the possibility of him replacing Sinner as the world No 1 before the Italian Open.

Zverev sits on 7,595 points in the Live ATP Rankings — 2,335 adrift of Sinner, who will be on 9,930 points after he loses the 400 points from his 2024 Monte Carlo semi-final run.

The world No 2 will look to bounce back at the ATP 500 tournament in Munich next week. He will then play the Masters 1000 event in Madrid, where he is a two-time champion.

With 1,500 points on offer at these two tournaments, Zverev can still make up ground on Sinner before Rome.

However, it feels like the German may never get a better chance to reach the pinnacle of the ATP Tour than he has had in recent months.

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Jannik Sinner has been a notable absentee from the ATP Tour in recent weeks as he serves a three-month suspension for a doping violation and former world No 1 Andy Roddick believes what comes next could shape a few agendas in years to come.

Sinner accepted a short ban from tennis amid the threat of a one-year suspension if he had taken his case against the World Anti-Doping Agenda all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

It means world No 1 Sinner has missed recent tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami and he will also miss the start of the clay court season, including ATP Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo and Madrid.

While he has been denied the chance to challenge for world ranking points and big money, his time away from the court could work in his favour if he returns refreshed and revived against opponents who have had hectic schedules on court in his absence.

Speaking on the latest edition of his Served podcast, former US Open champion pondered whether Sinner would benefit from the break away from tennis as he targets his first French Open title at Roland Garros.

“I don’t think you are ever a winner when you get suspended for three months… but will he look back in a year in a half and say you know what, that was decent. I had a pretty hectic schedule, played two majors (this summer), was there a benefit to it? Maybe,” said Roddick.

“What’s going to happen is one of two things. He’s not going to play as well in Rome or the French Open and by the way, it’s not his best surface, so we are going to overreact to whatever the result is for Jannik Sinner when he comes back.

“We will say ‘that really hurt him’ if he loses in Rome, or if he loses in the semi-finals of the French Open, but that could have happened [whether he was banned or not].

Roddick went on to suggest Sinner and other players may look at how the Italian reacts to his unwanted time away from tennis and may conclude that taking a break after the ATP 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami is a shrewd move in preparation for the French Open.

The question here is how will other players react if a fresh and hungry Sinner springs back into top gear and performs well in Rome at the French Open, would that encourage other players to take some time off at the start of the clay court season in years to come?

“What will be curious is moving forward, with this three-month gap, with the schedule being too busy, maybe he takes parts of this three months [off],” he added.

“Maybe he says I play Indian Wells and Miami and I doesn’t play Monte Carlo. I get a later start, I buy myself during the clay court season to refresh.

“So I think this experience may be a good learning tool and maybe you take the good parts of it. We’ll see.”

Sinner spoke at length about his decision to accept a doping ban for the first time in an interview with Sky Italy, as he reflected on a tough decision that he felt forced to take.

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“The decision to take the three-month suspension was rather quick. We accepted it quite quickly, even though I didn’t agree completely. There was a bit of back and forth with my lawyer and the people around me,” the Italian said. “After we took this decision, it took me a while to find myself again.

“But I am still here. There is still a bit of time to digest all this, but I can’t wait to be back in Rome. It’s a special tournament for me, even though it will also very tough. I’ll be back in a moment in which there will be already a lot of attention on me, and in Rome it’s not easy.

“I was very fragile after what happened. I would tell a lie if I said I was a person without feelings or emotions. In life you learn, every year I learn more about myself, also about my values. It was not easy, very hard at times, but the people around me gave me the strength to understand what had happened.”

He remains unsure how other players on the tour will react to his return.

“I can’t answer this question as I don’t know what could happen,” he said. “I know how things went, I know I am innocent.

“I am calm because, in the end, I know that what I want to do is to play tennis and be serene. That’s the end of the story. So, I am sure all will go well, even if at the beginning it will take a while to start over. These are questions I don’t know how to answer.”

Sinner has confirmed he will return to action at the Rome Masters next month, where he is set to be the top seed.

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Novak Djokovic’s mission to win a 100th ATP Tour title is one of the key talking points of this week’s Monte Carlo Masters.

And, while the third seed is undoubtedly one of the favourites to lift the title this week, a significant obstacle could be standing in his way.

Monte Carlo has not been Djokovic’s happiest hunting ground in recent years – can he reverse a strange trend?

Two titles

After defeats to Rafael Nadal in the 2009 and 2012 finals, Djokovic finally beat the Spaniard in the 2013 final to lift the title for the first time, ending his rival’s staggering 46-match win streak in Monte Carlo.

Two years later, Djokovic would then win the title for a second time, beating former world No 4 Tomas Berdych in three sets.

Only five men in the Open Era – including Nadal – have won more Monte Carlo titles, and his triumphs are notable considering that fellow rival Roger Federer went 0-4 in his Monte Carlo finals.

However, with *only* two titles to his name, this is technically Djokovic’s weakest Masters 1000 event.

Djokovic has triumphed at every other Masters event on at least three occasions, with the Madrid Open and Cincinnati Open (three titles) his next events in terms of titles won.

Should Djokovic triumph in Monte Carlo this week, he would become the first man to win all nine Masters events on at least three occasions; no other man has even done it once.

Win percentage

Djokovic is making his 18th Monte Carlo appearance this week – a new record, having previously been level with Nadal on 17.

And, his record of 39 match wins at the event is second only to Nadal – though his wins are matched by 15 losses at the tournament.

Djokovic’s 39-15 record gives him a Monte Carlo win percentage of 72.2%, and while that seems impressive on the outset, it is an outlier for the Serbian.

By quite some margin, it is the lowest win percentage he holds at any Masters 1000 tournament.

His next lowest win percentage is at the Madrid Open, where he holds a 76.9% (30-9) record, while he holds an impressive 85% (68-12) record in Rome, the final Masters event of the clay swing.

Djokovic’s highest Masters 1000 win percentage comes in Shanghai, where he holds an 86.7% (39-6) record.

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Recent dip

Djokovic was a semi-finalist in Monte Carlo a year ago, but that run – which was ended with a defeat to Casper Ruud – was his best result at the tournament since his last title back in 2015.

Since beating Berdych in the final a decade ago, Djokovic has reached just three quarter-finals in Monte Carlo.

Djokovic was beaten in the last eight by David Goffin in 2017 and Daniil Medvedev in 2019 and, outside of his 2024 showing, has endured a string of early losses in Monte Carlo over the past decade.

As the defending champion and world No 1 in 2016, he was stunned by Jiri Vesely, while other surprise losses include defeats to Dan Evans in 2021 and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in 2022.

His recent struggles contrast with an impressive string of results that saw him reach seven straight semi-finals in seven appearances from 2008 to 2015; he withdrew from the event in 2011.

Can he return his results around?

A return to the last four in 2024 was undoubtedly a positive for Djokovic, who, with Nadal now retired, is undoubtedly the most successful active clay-courter on the ATP.

After a return to form at the Miami Open, the Serbian also has a rather advantageous draw in Monte Carlo over the coming week.

Round two opponent Alejandro Tabilo beat the world No 5 in Rome last year but has only won three matches in 2025 – including a three-set victory over Stan Wawrinka in his opener here.

Further on, he could face Grigor Dimitrov – who he is 13-1 against – in the third round, before a quarter-final against eighth seed Alex de Minaur.

That is among the safest paths he could have received and could aid him in his quest to turn around his Monte Carlo struggles.

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Emma Raducanu enjoyed her best run of form since her 2021 US Open win as she reached the quarter-finals of the Miami Open, but it is unclear when she will be back on court.

Raducanu pulled out of Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup matches in the Netherlands this week as she opted to take some time away from the court.

Sky Sports reported last week that Raducanu has also pulled out of the WTA 250 Open de Rouen that is set to get underway next week, but it has not yet been confirmed by the player.

There are also suggestions that she may not return in time to play on clay courts at the WTA 1000 Madrid Open tournament next month, with uncertainty over when the 22-year-old will next play a competitive tournament.

It is unclear whether Raducanu is nursing a minor injury or just opting to rest her body for a summer that will include a lot of action on her favoured grass courts, but it is clear that she will not play too much tennis in April.

That means she will see the 108 points earned from her run to the quarter-finals at the WTA 500 Stuttgart Open last year dropping off her record next week.

She would also lose the 10 ranking points she collected from a first-round defeat in Madrid last May if she opts against playing the tournament in the Spanish capital this year.

That may well see Raducanu drop out of the top 50 of the WTA Rankings once again, with British No 3 Sonay Kartal likely to get close to overhauling her former junior rival in the rankings ahead of the French Open.

Raducanu has made it clear that she will prioritise her health over ranking points and that is understandable given her lengthy spells away from the court due to injuries.

In addition, she will believe her game is there to compete with the best players on the WTA Tour after a run in Miami that included wins against top 10 player Emma Navarro and recent WTA 1000 title winner Amanda Anisimova.

Despite that return to form, Raducanu has decided this is the moment to take a break from the game and celebrated coach Patrick Mouratoglou has suggested the mental toll may be as significant for Raducanu as the physical issues she has struggled with over the last couple of years.

Speaking to Tennis365, Mouratoglou highlighted Emma Raducanu as an example of a player who goes onto court with more than just the burden of her own expectations to contend with, as criticism and the threat of it can also impact a match.

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“Most players are confident as they have the ability to play good tennis when they reach the top of the sport, but so many of them don’t believe in themselves when they play certain opponents,” he told Tennis365.

“When they lose a few matches, they lose belief to beat others and when you are in the locker room, you can see how some of them are scared before matches and it’s crazy.

“There is so much on the line every time they play a match because first of all, they are evaluating themselves.

“Then they have the press evaluating them and when you are in a big country like Britain and there is a lot of publicity around tennis, a player like Emma Raducanu takes the risk that people will write or say bad things about you every time you go on court. That is not easy to deal with.

“Players are stressed and they need a lot of confidence to deal with that stress or they will not be able to deliver.”

Raducanu has yet to give any clues when she will play her next tournament and she is likely to train at the LTA’s indoor clay courts in London as she considers her next move.

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