Emma Raducanu believes the best players in the world feel they have a “point to prove” against her because of the British No 1’s early grand slam success after a 6-1 6-2 defeat to Elena Rybakina in the US Open third round.
Raducanu has lost to high-ranked opponents in each of the four grand slam tournaments this season, going down heavily to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open and the French Open and pushing Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon.
After breezing through the first couple of rounds at the US Open and dropping just six games, Raducanu suffered a one-sided defeat to Rybakina, the former Wimbledon champion and ninth seed, in just 62 minutes.
Raducanu has now lost eight matches in a row against opponents ranked in the top-10 in the world and the 22-year-old said she things her unexpected US Open triumph four years ago means the world’s best always want to play at their top level against her.
“I think when the very top play against me, they have a point to prove that they’re at the top, and they’re there for a reason, I think every time I’ve played one, they’ve kind of shown that,” Raducanu said.
“I think at the same time while I’m improving, doing better, gaining maybe some more respect, I think the top have definitely raised their game. But I’ll take that as a compliment that they’ve decided to really lock in against me, but at the same time it does show I have a lot more work to do.”
Raducanu said her next goal will be to improve her ranking so she avoids drawing top players in the early rounds. The British No 1 will continue working with coach Francisco Roig until at least the end of the season and wants to be seeded ahead of next season’s Australian Open in January.
“I’ve lost to Iga twice, Aryna, and Elena, so it’s tough,” Raducanu said. “But at the same time, that’s where I’m at with my ranking. I can play top opponents in the first, second, or third round. So I’ve just got to do my best in the next few months until Australia to just keep working to try and close the gap.
“I think depending on the day, depending on how we match up, I think I’m getting better overall. I think I’m improving for sure in the last few months. So I just need to keep consistent and put this one behind me.”
Raducanu added: “I think it’s going to be important to just look at the last few months as a whole, last few weeks as a whole and the improvements that I’m making, because a match like that can easily kind of get you down if you let it. So I’m going to try and not do that and regroup and just work hard and get ready for Asia.”
