Emma Raducanu created a very funny moment during her 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers match against Caroline Garcia, celebrating the win prematurely.
The Brit played her first match on clay on Friday, almost a year since her last match on that surface last April at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. She's been practicing on it for a while now and talked about her excitement about returning to the red dirt.
She's not a natural on the surface, having played very little on it growing up, but she's found herself on it and learned to enjoy it. She actually believes that she can be really good on clay in the future.
Her match in France didn't start well, but it ended spectacularly for the Brit as she beat Caroline Garcia in three sets and earned a huge point for her country. That point by Raducanu might end up being crucial for Great Britain, and it was very important, especially after Katie Boulter's loss.
It's why she celebrated heavily once she won the match, or so she thought. She celebrated at the wrong time because she did it when she took a 5-1 lead in the third set It was a funny moment, and from Raducanu's point of view, it was pretty embarrassing as she talked about it after the match.
"Honestly I did the same early in the match. I think second game of the match, I was going back like it was deuce or something but I won the game and it was 1-1. Sometimes I'm just super locked in and I don't really get the score."
"I don't know what happened but it was quite embarrassing, all I was thinking was if I lose this right now, I am gonna look like a right muppet. So I am very happy that I managed to pull it through the next game."