[heavyhorse]

A win but a deeply unconvincing one. I said this months back but Raducanu cannot think about media, British and other fans, parents, peers etc once she is out on court. She has to swing free. She might still lose but she must at least play her best game out on court. Otherwise thus can become a vicious cycle - never able to get enough match time to truly shake off the nerves because she's tight and doesn't play her best. And due to lack of deep runs, keeps losing early in tournament after tournament. It now appears that what had happened against Tomljanovic last year at Wimbledon was not an aberration and she is having trouble handling expectations. And possibly the person who has the highest expectations is herself.

I was thinking this last night watching the match, so many mid court loopy balls like she was almost trying to manage the situation/nerves but probably what would've been best is to start bashing the ball and hitting the nerves out. Maybe this is why she picked Turusnov to be her coach, Kontaveit said he did a good job making her believe in herself to be more aggressive etc. Chirico was very generous to Emma, Osorio will not be the same she will fight for every ball, I could see it turn into another Saville Guadalajara match tbh. Perhaps Emma would be best to go out and start BBBing for the first 3 or 4 games just to loosen herself up even if she loses all of those games. Cause these loopy balls are just going to get punished and probably hurt her confidence more, might be best to start the match off playing on her own terms rather than this timid defensive stuff.

 

[james_von05]

a big difference between USO Raducanu and present Raducanu is how much she's waiting for the ball tbh during the USO she was on the baseline taking everything early and now she's looping things in most of the time

lolz guess never play tennis??

When they are trying to get their confidence back, players tend to hit the target first with control power and then adding power and angle gradually

 

[Sampras99]

The raducanu camp are playing a clever game where she stays a few metres behind the baseline and looks like an average junior ( also throw in a panic attack) against even world #200 and then shocks everyone at flushing meadow again to reclaim a title.

 

[gbar23]

Certainly wasn't the prettiest or the most convincing performance from Emma, but I was happy that she managed to get over her struggles midway through that first set. It did look hot and humid as f**k out there, probably the reason why Emma was struggling a bit. But a win's a win at the end of the day.

I imagine MCOS will be a very tough opponent and will make it far from easy for Emma to get past.

 

[FitzWilton]

These middle of the night matches are damaging Emma's post count 😟

 

[mattypark]

 

[mattypark]

 

[jimbo mack]

Good start from Emma. I’ll look forward to watching the highlights later - had an early start at work today so I missed my early morning TF and cuppa session 😕

 

[F1Fan]

Très Bon, girl done good.

Felt for her @ post 46 ´•︵•`

She's a fighter & the young fans adore her.

 

[iGOAT]

I stayed up to watch this match against my better judgment and it was a bit of a roller coaster. Emma did not look very good until the end of the second set. She started well but then settled into playing quite passively and started breathing heavy between points and crying on one of the changeovers (possibly had a panic attack ?) but then calmed down and got some help from CHIRICO's errors before taking control late in the second set. It was not a super encouraging level of tennis but it's good for her to find ways through this kind of tough match.

It's nice to see CHIRICO being competitive at WTA level again.

 

[Rogue.]

I had actually completely forgotten about the Wimbledon retirement. Anxiety is no joke, and I really feel for Emma.

Wins are good at this point, no matter how ugly, and I'd assume she'll aim to be more aggressive next round.

 

[jimbo mack]

I stayed up to watch this match against my better judgment and it was a bit of a roller coaster.

True Emma stan

 

[Perun]

These middle of the night matches are damaging Emma's post count 😟

Don't worry, here is my little help!

 

[droogiefret]

Hopefully whatever happened between games in the first set - panic attack, fitness issue, anxiety, pressure, breathing difficulties - will be addressed honestly in the presser.

Yes I noticed the apparent breathing problems between couple of games. I wonder what is going on there.

 

[textenfan]

Some comments are hilarious. She was playing probably a lucky looser, not even a qualifier, and from the comments, it seems that raducanu won against the number one seed.

I don't think anyone here is saying this was a great performance. She did just enough to win in straight sets, so I wouldn't read too much into the state of her game just yet. If she plays like that against a top 50 opponent she will have problems, but I don't think she will rely on loopy shots against better players like she did with Chirico, who made a ton of UEs.

 

[vixter]

Hopefully whatever happened between games in the first set - panic attack, fitness issue, anxiety, pressure, breathing difficulties - will be addressed honestly in the presser.

Nicht sehr gut.

Because you are worried about her, or because you think she is under an obligation to address it honestly? Isn't it something personal? If she would admit she has anxiety and sometimes gets panic attacks, all newspapers will write about it and the whole world will know. That might not be what she wants, personally and professionally. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just something that maybe could be used against her.

 

[xenosys]

I don't think anyone here is saying this was a great performance. She did just enough to win in straight sets, so I wouldn't read too much into the state of her game just yet. If she plays like that against a top 50 opponent she will have problems, but I don't think she will rely on loopy shots against better players like she did with Chirico, who made a ton of UEs.

Yeah, I've seen no Emma-stans, even on her player forum that were wholly convinced by the win or getting carried away with that performance.

A win is a win, but she will need to be a lot better against Osorio.

 

[xenosys]

Because you are worried about her, or because you think she is under an obligation to address it honestly? Isn't it something personal? If she would admit she has anxiety and sometimes gets panic attacks, all newspapers will write about it and the whole world will know. That might not be what she wants, personally and professionally. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just something that maybe could be used against her.

She addressed it in her post-match interview on court anyway. She said that she was nervous and definitely felt pressure at the start of the match, and that she could sense the crowd were aware that something wasn't quite right with her at the change of ends @ 4-3, when the camera focused in on her for the entire duration of the changeover and had her on the big screen.

 

[Smedley]

Because you are worried about her, or because you think she is under an obligation to address it honestly? Isn't it something personal? If she would admit she has anxiety and sometimes gets panic attacks, all newspapers will write about it and the whole world will know. That might not be what she wants, personally and professionally. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just something that maybe could be used against her.

Totally agree with your clarification - I conflated the aspects of concern.

I think she has to provide some insight into the issue (reputationally, professionally, and because of the gambling aspect), while maintaining privacy about her personal health (something that is getting more difficult all the time, unfortunately).

 

[njnetswill]

Still great to see Chirico back at this level after spending 5 years outside the top 200. Her first career where she made top 60 feels like a lifetime ago.