How Raducanu won her Indian Wells opener with no warm-up
WTA
'No warm-up' proved to be 'no problem' for Emma Raducanu, who went straight from dreamland to the Indian Wells tennis courts and still won a match.
Raducanu didn't have the ideal preparation for the WTA 1000 event in Indian Wells, fighting tonsillitis last week. She was supposed to play at the ATX Open in Austin but had to abandon those plans. Then, she started struggling with her wrist, and her participation was up in the air.
"I didn’t feel too good this morning. I’m just so happy with the way I fought and dealt with the circumstances. I just woke up feeling not great to be honest. I felt quite ill so I’m just happy to have played the match and then to win it despite how I felt today."- Raducanu on winning the match
Not many knew how the final hours before her appearance on the court even went. In the talk with BBC Radio, Raducanu explained that she was sleeping literally minutes before taking to the courts. She was woken up when it was time to go and elected to give it a go on the spot.
"Today before the match, I did not warm up. Two minutes before I was called I was sleeping in the treatment room so I’m just proud to have got out there and then won."
The situation is not ideal for Raducanu but she's hoping to get through the Indian Wells draw and then see what happens after that. As of now, she's managing the wrist issue with no concrete decision made beyond the Indian Wells Open.
"I’m not 100%, but you never really are. The short-term plan is to manage it as best as possible. Managing the load, not train as much. Get through the tournament and evaluate after."- Raducanu on her status
