EMMA RADUCANU reckons top tennis stars are determined to take her scalp due to her unprecedented success in New York four years ago.
Britain’s leading tennis player, 22, suffered her quickest Grand Slam exit as she was blown away 6-2 6-1 in 62 minutes by clean-hitting No.9 seed Elena Rybakina in the US Open third round.
Draws have been very unkind to her this year – she has been dumped out of the Slams by big hitters Iga Swiatek (Australia and French Opens) and Aryna Sabalenka (Wimbledon).
What she did in 2021, winning the £1.8million crown as a 18-year-old and banking loads of rich sponsorship deals, may have caused some envy within the locker room.
Certainly she feels a target on her back because of her status and it is something she has to deal with when facing the elite.
Raducanu said: “When the very top play against me, they have a point to prove that they’re at the top and they’re there for a reason.
“I think every time I’ve played one, they’ve kind of shown that.
“At the same time while I’m improving, doing better, gaining maybe some more respect around, yeah the top have definitely raised their game.
“But I’ll take that as a compliment that they’ve decided to really lock in against me. At the same time it does show I have a lot more work to do.”
Ex-Wimbledon champion Rybakina hit 23 winners in 15 games and broke Raducanu’s serve four times in front of fashion mogul Anna Wintour.
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It was a ruthless display from the Moscow-born Kazakhstani, 26, and she advanced into the fourth round here for the first time.
Raducanu, who played golf on Thursday for the second time in her life, said: “I thought Elena played very well and I found it very difficult to get any sort of rhythm in the match.
“I just felt every ball was so difficult that I was receiving. I was kind of shocked when I got a shorter ball. It was difficult. She served well, returned well.
“She didn’t let me settle in every department. She did everything better.”
Raducanu’s partnership with new Spanish coach Francisco Roig is until the end of the year but she has shown signs of progress during their brief time together.
There is no sense that he will follow others on the coaching scrapheap.
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She said: “It’s only been three weeks but it’s been a pretty successful three weeks in a sense that we’ve made good improvements.
“There are certain parts of my game which have gotten better for sure. Today, my weaknesses were highlighted.
“It’s only been three weeks, and he can’t really work miracles, you know.”
Cameron Norrie, 30, also suffered an exit from the US Open as Novak Djokovic beat him.
The Serb came out on top 6-4 6-7 6-2 6-3 in a competitive match at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
