Former Britain’s tennis player Laura Robson believes that
Emma Raducanu’s recent defeat against world number two
Iga Swiatek will be a ‘learning
curve’. The 22-year-old, who was once regarded as the next big thing after
winning the US Open at the age of 18 back in 2021, was knocked out from the Australian
Open after suffering a thumping defeat to the former world number one with a
score of 6-1, 6-0.
Former British player Robson has been recently quoted in a report
by Eurosport where she talked about Raducanu’s performance on the big day
against one of the best players in the world. The 30-year-old also highlighted
some positives for one-time Grand Slam winner on an overall disappointing day and
stated that the real difference between the players was the intensity of Swiatek.
"The positive was that she was moving well, and when
she was able to stay in the rally she was able to put in some good
points," she said. "But the difference was the intensity between the
two of them. Iga has played that kind of match 55 times in the last year, and
on the big points she knows what to do - on the more important points she was
able to step it up another gear. Whereas Emma didn’t play coming into here, she
played two very different opponents in the first two rounds who gave her a lot
of unforced errors. It was the complete opposite today. Iga gave her absolutely
nothing to work with and she’s such a good front-runner.”
Robson further went on to state that the match will be a
great ‘learning curve’. “In many ways, it will be a learning curve for Emma to
get back to the drawing board, and think 'okay, if I want to challenge these
top players, I need to train with this intensity and play matches with this
intensity',” she said. “Some of this she knows but it was the real standout of
what was on show today. When you step up to this level, Swiatek has played so
many third rounds of slams, she’s comfortable. The sharpness was there every
time she stepped up to the line and if you aren’t used to that kind of rhythm
and pace and power coming onto your racquet, it’s very hard to keep up. I
honestly think it’s one of those matches you learn a lot from, you get back on
the practice court and you’re excited to do that."