“Such a princess”, “5 matches in 6 years and she’s tired?” – Fans question Emma Raducanu blaming exhaustion for Madrid Open 1R loss

Tennis fans have criticized Emma Raducanu for attributing her first-round defeat at the 2024 Madrid Open to exhaustion.Raducanu entered the WTA 1000 Madrid tournament fresh off a quarterfinals run at the recently concluded Stuttgart Open. She was originally slated to face Karolina Pliskova in the first round. However, the Brit’s opponent changed when Pliskova withdrew due to an ankle injury.

Raducanu then went up against Argentinian qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle in the tournament opener. Carle caused an upset when she defeated the Brit 6-2, 6-2 in just one hour and 26 minutes to secure her first WTA 1000-level victory and advance to the second round.During the post-match press conference after the defeat, Emma Raducanu attributed her defeat to physical and mental exhaustion, describing tennis as a demanding and a “pretty brutal” sport.

“I think from the performance today it was very clear that mentally and emotionally I was exhausted. I was trying to push through. I was pushing through Stuttgart and was just unable to push through today. So yeah, it’s a shame that I was feeling so good on the court and today happened, but I guess this sport is just pretty brutal,” Raducanu said, as per The Guardian.