Emma Raducanu has ‘all the ingredients’ to enjoy further success in her career after the Brit crashed out of her US Open title defence at the first hurdle, according to Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters.
Raducanu - who made history when she won her maiden Grand Slam title in New York 12 months ago - was dumped out of the US Open in the first round as she was crushed by Alize Cornet. The French star defeated Raducanu 6-3 6-3.
The 19-year-old has navigated a difficult year since winning 10 matches in a row to go through qualifying and win the US Open title last year. Raducanu has not won three matches at the same tournament since, hampered by a number of injury issues.
After her defeat, Raducanu revealed she is looking forward to a ‘clean slate’ ahead of sliding from World No. 11 to 80th in the rankings. However, former World No.1 Clijsters is confident the Brit will return to the top.
“She’s young, she’s a very smart girl, she’s a very talented player, works hard, has an open mindset to learn and to improve so she has all the ingredients to become a good player, it’s just taken her a little time to adjust,” Clijsters told Eurosport. “To be in the role of being a potential Grand Slam champion again and the pressure that comes with that.
“There’s a certain type of pressure that you put on yourself. The pressure that comes with being a defending champion. But we were in England a few weeks ago and the questions you hear from the English media - when I have to do interviews there it’s all about ‘How come she hasn’t been able to produce another big win or big upset’.
“It’s not that easy and it's impossible for her to filter all that out. You can try to ignore it as much as you want but for Emma it’s all about being in the moment and taking it one step at a time and doing her best. That’s what she is doing and that’s all she can do.”
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Clijster’s comments were echoed by former World No.2 Alex Corretja, who believes Raducanu can refocus on enjoying tennis and finding her feet in the professional arena. The Spaniard added: “Everything’s going to start now.
“She’s already a Grand Slam champion so now her career can start as it should be - more slowly. What happened last year is not normal. But I would take it - I would have wished to have won a Slam and struggled the year after, so I think it’s okay what has happened to her through the whole year.
“She needs to understand where she is and where her game needs to go and if she drops in the rankings it doesn’t really matter. Maybe it’s what she needs - to know how to play tennis and to develop her game. I have to say that she’s a brilliant girl. She plays super good tennis, she’s going to be okay. No one needs to worry. But it’s good to go step by step.
“At the end of the day sometimes you jump so high, you don’t really know how you did it. While if you go day by day and step by step and play in quarters and semi-finals then you win a tournament, then you know the way. For her everything came all of a sudden.
“I think we need to know how important it is to deal with emotions. We practice so hard in our lives - back hands, forehands, but we forget sometimes about emotions. For her everything been so different in the last year.”
The US Open runs until the men’s singles final on 11 September.
