Emma Raducanu has handed down a harsh criticism of the Australian Open\u2019s \u2018very difficult\u2019 scheduling, stating that it \u2018doesn\u2019t really make much sense.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Brit is due to compete in her fifth edition of the season\u2019s first Grand Slam, producing her best result with a third-round appearance in 2025 (losing to Iga Swiatek).<\/p>\n
Prior to that, she had made three consecutive second rounds in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
Raducanu is due to get her campaign underway against Thai Mananchaya Sawangkaew, who is ranked outside of the world\u2019s top 200.<\/p>\n
However, much of her press conference was taken up by her voicing dissatisfaction towards the scheduling of the encounter.<\/p>\n
She is scheduled to play Sawangkaew in the last match of the Margaret Court Arena, after the conclusion of Alexander Bublik\u2019s match against American Jenson Brooksby \u2013 which begins at 7pm local time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult,\u201d Raducanu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou would love to have more time in the environment, more time practising, but I guess I was pretty much handed the schedule to try and turn it around and make the most out of what is in front of me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s easy to get down and complain about it, but it\u2019s not going to help. So I\u2019m just trying to focus and turn it around for tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to be scheduling women\u2019s matches after a potential five-set match. To me, it doesn\u2019t really make much sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday I\u2019m going to practice and see what it\u2019s like. I don\u2019t think I have been in that situation. Only once before maybe when I played the semi-finals of the US Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI played the second night match but, other than that, I haven\u2019t played that late. So, for me, it\u2019s a new experience, something that I need to learn to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic lays down Australian Open gauntlet and claims \u2018I can beat anybody\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Who is Emma Raducanu\u2019s Australian Open Round 1 opponent? Thai star Mananchaya Sawangkaew<\/a><\/p>\n Whilst Raducanu had a healthier 2025 than in years prior, her off-season preparation was reportedly impacted by a lingering foot issue.<\/p>\n She started her 2026 season with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 loss to Greek Maria Sakarri, looking short of practice and overall match fitness.<\/p>\n The Brit then took part in an event in Hobart, beating Camila Osorio, but falling to wildcard Taylah Preston in the quarter-finals 6-2, 6-4.<\/p>\n However, Raducanu was able to give a positive update about the foot discomfort and stated that it is \u2018improving day by day.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a lot better,\u201d the 2021 US Open champion revealed.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been having to manage it for the last few months but I\u2019m really happy with the progress that I\u2019ve made this year.<\/p>\n \u201cI came out to Australia not knowing how it would go and now I\u2019m in a much better place and just improving day by day.<\/p>\n \u201cI could easily get frustrated about not having the pre-season I wanted. I think it would only frustrate me.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter last year being my first real year on tour, I really learned that the season is so long. I just want to try and work my way into this year.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously I want this week to go well but I know that I\u2019m working on the right things and it will slot into place at some point.<\/p>\n \u201cI started training very, very late on tennis-wise.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, because of that, I feel like I need to kind of take the pressure off myself and not put too much pressure on and expect to be playing amazing tennis.\u201d<\/p>\n The post Emma Raducanu lambasts Australian Open scheduling, and admits it may hamper chances \u2013 \u2018Doesn\u2019t make sense\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Emma Raducanu has handed down a harsh criticism of the Australian Open\u2019s \u2018very difficult\u2019 scheduling, stating that it \u2018doesn\u2019t really make much sense.\u2019 The Brit is due to compete in her fifth edition of the season\u2019s first Grand Slam, producing her best result with a third-round appearance in 2025 (losing to Iga Swiatek). Prior to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/h2>\n