Emma Raducanu made an honest confession about the challenge of facing the top players in women’s tennis after her heavy defeat to Amanda Anisimova in Indian Wells.
In the third round at the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells, Raducanu was crushed 6-1, 6-1 in just 52 minutes by world No 6 Anisimova.
The world No 24 was broken in five of her seven service games and was unable to create a break point as she won only 21 of the 74 points she played against her 24-year-old American opponent.
The 2021 US Open champion had entered the match after a dominant 6-1, 6-3 victory over 86th-ranked Anastasia Zakharova in the second round.
Speaking to Sky Sports after her loss to Anisimova, Raducanu assessed her Indian Wells Open campaign.
“I think I had a great first match and was in a much better place with my game. Against Amanda, it was difficult even to come close to putting my stamp on the match,” said the Brit.
“I think also that goes with playing Amanda — she is that type of opponent who likes to put her stamp on it first, and that was very evident today.
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“Obviously, have to take some positives. The first match here was better than a lot of matches I’ve been playing recently.
“But yeah, a match like that [against Anisimova] is never easy to take afterwards. I couldn’t really get into the rally.”
Raducanu reunited with her former coach Mark Petchey in Indian Wells, and she addressed whether she will continue working with the former British No 1 ahead of the Miami Open.
“Mark helped me out a lot this week and it was nice to be on court with him again,” said Raducanu.
“But he will be commentating for Tennis Channel this week, probably until the end, so I don’t know how much time I will get with him before Miami.”
In her press conference, Raducanu was honest about the firepower “gap” she felt between herself and Anisimova.
“When I’m playing someone who’s at the top like that, I think they have an extra 10 miles an hour on their serve than me,” said the 23-year-old.
“If I’m not feeling it, that gap feels more evident in terms of weight of shot, in terms of power.
“You just feel a little bit behind and your punches aren’t landing as much as theirs are.
“I need to be aggressive when playing those players, but I think there’s still a long way to go to be doing that. I need to use my strengths and probably mix it up a bit more.”
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