WTA
Melbourne
What a difference a year makes for Emma Raducanu.
Last year, when she stepped onto 1573 Court at Melbourne Park for her first round at the Australian Open, she was already roiling with injuries. She needed a wheelchair to get on her flight to Melbourne. Ten days before her first match she had to have a cyst removed from her left knee. She only started hitting three days before her match.
“That whole process was a lot of stress,” Raducanu said. “We weren’t sure if I was going to be able to play here.” Now? As she readied to play her first Grand Slam match in 12 months, Raducanu was ready to go.
“Now there’s just a lot more calm,” she said. “I think I’m more levelheaded. I think things around me have settled. I do feel better, and there’s just less highs and lows around. It’s just more of an equilibrium.”
That settled sense of calm showed on Tuesday night at Melbourne Park. Once again scheduled for 1573 Court, Raducanu laid down her cleanest performance in over a year to defeat American Shelby Rogers 6-3, 6-2 in the first round. The 21-year-old Brit did not face a break point in the match and eased to a 76-minute victory.
