Emma Raducanu Blames 'Lack Of Preparation' For Her Shock Loss In Indian Wells
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Emma Raducanu lost in the first round of the 2025 Indian Wells Open, but she didn't want to blame her incident with a stalker in Dubai for the loss.
Raducanu didn't play a good match against Moyuka Uchijima. The Japanese player beat her quite convincingly, 6-3, 6-2, with the Brit struggling mostly on her serve.
The 2021 US Open champion faced break points in seven out of her eight service games in the match, which didn't help her build some momentum in the match. She almost always had to defend herself against the chance of being broken.
It was also a surprising loss, given how well Raducanu played in Dubai, and she couldn't really identify the reasons behind the loss during her post-match press conference. The 22-year-old player said that she wanted to be aggressive, but that didn't really work out well for her.
"I think it was just a very difficult match for me. I think it was tough conditions, difficult ball from my opponent. I mean, I tried to be aggressive, I tried to make the ball. But I guess it didn't work today."
Obviously, Raducanu arrived in Indian Wells after previously dealing with an incident with a stalker at the Dubai Championships. She even admitted she considered not coming to the United States after the incident.
But after her loss to Uchijima, the 2021 US Open champion didn't want to find any excuses for the loss. She said that what happened in Dubai didn't influence her at all. She was brutally honest with herself, saying that she might not have prepared well enough for the tournament.
"I didn't have what happened in Dubai in my head at all today. I think, if anything, like a bit of a lack of preparation on the tennis court, playing someone who played pretty good in these conditions, I mean, extremely awkward in the wind here."
"But I think it depends what sorts of frame of mind you're in. I think all the players will say, you know, if they're feeling good, like, it's great. If they're not, like, it can be more difficult and challenging. You have to just overcome whatever hurdles that come your way and just keep going forward."
After such a loss, Raducanu knew that it was time to hit the practice court again and try to improve. She admitted that she will need to work on improving how she starts the rallies, which includes her serve that she struggled with greatly in Indian Wells.
"Yeah, I think I'll need to improve starting the point. I think that's a big part of tennis. I think I can do that a lot better. I think I could improve, I guess, being more aggressive and, like, having a better quality of shot going forward into the court more. I think I could improve every area of my game, to be honest (smiling), after today's performance. But yeah, I think everything, to be honest."
