Emma Raducanu meets her opponent at the Slovenia Open tournament, and the Briton has fallen sharply in the rankings | Tennis | Sports
Emma Raducanu met her first opponent at the Slovenia Open after dropping to 83rd in the rankings after an early exit in New York. The 2021 US Open champion was knocked out in the first round this year and is now looking to climb back to her career-high No. 10 in the world, starting with the WTA 250 in Portorož.
Raducanu received a wildcard into the Slovenian Open this week after losing to Alize Cornet 6-3 6-3 in the first round of the US Open. The Briton became the first qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows last year, but was in action for just one hour and 41 minutes before crashing out in the opening match this time around.
Despite the disappointing defeat, the 19-year-old was ready to start from scratch, saying: “I’m happy because it’s nothing. I’ll drop the scale [and] I’m climbing back.” Raducanu has also set herself the goal of playing “around 250 points” by the end of the year and has already entered her first tournament with 250 points – the lowest level on the official WTA Tour – in Portorož.
Raducanu is the top seed and the draw was made based on last week’s rankings, when she was ranked 11th in the world. And she learned that she will face Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in Monday’s first match.
PREVIOUS: Kerber returns after missing US Open due to pregnancy