'Back to the drawing board' for tearful Emma Raducanu after first-round US Open exit

A tearful Emma Raducanu ­admitted she would have to go “back to the drawing board” after her hopes of a deep run at the US Open ended at the first hurdle.

The 2021 champion was beaten 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 by former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in a high-quality match here at Flushing Meadows last night.

Raducanu fought back tears in an emotional news conference and admitted her decision to play just one tournament in the build-up did not help her produce her best tennis under pressure.

Admitting she will “learn from it” and look to “manage my schedule differently”, Raducanu said: “I feel down. I feel sad. Obviously, this is a tournament I really want to do well in.

“I’m just going to go back to the drawing board and train, analyse where I went wrong and try to improve for the rest of the season. Obviously, the slams are over for this year, but it’s not actually that long until Australia comes around again.”

After reaching the last 16 at Wimbledon, Raducanu played just one event in the build-up to the US Open. She reached the quarter-finals in ­Washington but rejected the chance to qualify for WTA 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati, and skipped the Olympics.

“I would have preferred to probably play a little bit more before coming into the US Open,” said Raducanu, who remains without a win in New York since she unexpectedly clinched the title as a teenage qualifier.

“I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel really good, you feel like everything’s ­automatic. I think I can learn from it and manage my schedule slightly differently.”

Asked if it was entirely her decision to go home after Washington, Raducanu replied: “I would say it wasn’t me. It was more of a collective call and, yeah, that’s what happened. You can’t really change it.”

Raducanu said she would take confidence from the way she fought back from the loss of the first set, when she was “outplayed completely” by world No54 Kenin as the American constantly put her under pressure reeled off five games in a row to take the set.

The Brit showed grit to fight back in the second set but Kenin produced the better tennis on the big points in the deciding set.

“In the third set, it was on serve until 2-2. It was pretty high-level tennis,” said Raducanu (right, last night). “I think certain parts of my game… I actually executed better than I have in previous matches.

“Credit to her, she stuck it out and served it out in the third set. Today she was better than me, and that’s it.”

Kenin produced a brilliant performance in front of her home crowd.

“I guess I have to take it as a compliment,” said Raducanu, who returns home to London before preparing for her next ­event in Seoul next month.

“I think I’ve had it a few times now when opponents have played really well against me, and, yeah, it’s for a reason, I guess. So, credit to her. There was no let up.”

While Raducanu crashed out, British No1 Katie Boulter is through to the second round after a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 win against Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Seeded at a Grand Slam for the second time in a row, Boulter feels ready to start making a move further up the rankings from her current mark of 33.

“I do think it’s important that I start making moves in bigger tournaments,” said the 28-year-old, who is aiming to go beyond the third round of a Grand Slam event for the first time and will play Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro tomorrow.

“If I want to go from 30 to 20, there’s a huge jump, but if I want to go from 20 to 10, there’s a massive jump.

“So for me, it’s about looking at where I can start gaining bigger points. Obviously I’m going to have to play better, but I do feel like I’ve got that game to do that.”