Emma Raducanu

The US Open champion played her first matches on Centre Court at a time when new heroes are needed at SW19.

Afterwards Raducanu took questions in the Wimbledon press room with a familiar sense of composure. A pair of hard, flat drives, a leaping overhead, a bravura forehand volley took the second game, and suddenly Raducanu was scrabbling for a handhold. Raducanu will head off now to prepare for the defence of New York . If defeat came quickly here, this is still a story that has barely begun. A gruff male voice yelled “come on champion”. Raducanu produced a stretching flipped backhand lob and a man in grey jacket leapt up into the air wildly, only to be urged back into his seat by a steward in an air force uniform. But Garcia didn’t fold, winding up her forehand to hammer the lines and close out the match. It has felt a little strange in SW19, stripped of ranking points because of a war in Europe, teeming at the edges with Covid. She netted a couple of forehands, slumped a little, and at that point there was a sudden rolling, warm cheer around the seats, with a sense of a wider celebration of this astonishingly impressive 19-year-old, the Beckenham ingenue. Henman fever bled into the Murray years, and a gut of beloved star players. But even in defeat, it felt as thought this could be the start of a beautiful friendship. But Wimbledon embraced Raducanu warmly in her first appearances on Centre Court. It is the key relationship in this place, the one between crowd and favoured player,. For Raducanu because she was simply blown away by a more powerful opponent, a moment of cold, hard sporting reality for a teenager who is still just a year into her own elevation from schoolgirl to sporting A-lister and all-round pop celebrity. Expectations for Raducanu will always be warped by her precocious success at the US Open last year, an unrepeatable miracle of will, of taking the moment.

Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon return proved to be an anti-climax as the US Open champion exited in the second round with defeat by Caroline Garcia.

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CAROLINE GARCIA beat Emma Raducanu in the second round at Wimbledon.

Raducanu added: "Yeah, I mean, obviously it's tough to lose any match, but I think that Caroline played a great match. It's just a reminder you got to do this, this, and that. I struggled to find a way through her today. Emma Raducanu crashed out of Wimbledon after a straight-sets defeat to Caroline Garcia - only to be warned that her secrets are out. “Then obviously everyone gets knows you, especially when you are doing great, which is her case. But obviously it's pretty tricky most of the time to find video or good quality matches where you can watch how they are doing.

Emma Raducanu hit back at a suggestion there was pressure on her at Wimbledon after her second-round exit, calling it a “joke”.

It's just a reminder you got to do this, this, and that. “Then when you do it on a big court like that, it's definitely magnified. Reflecting on the match, Raducanu added: “I think it was first-strike tennis. But I just didn't have enough ball speed today.” “I declared myself fully fit when I walked out onto the court on the first day. “I don't mind that.

The 19-year-old was ousted in straight sets 6-3, 6-3 by France's Caroline Garcia during the second round of the tennis championships, another crushing exit on ...

Yeah, if anything, the pressure is on those who haven’t done that.” “But I’m a slam champion, so no one’s going to take that away from me. I literally won a slam.”

Emma Raducanu's Wimbledon return proved to be an anti-climax as the US Open champion exited in the second round with a straight-sets defeat by Caroline ...

She asked me before the tournament if we wanna play doubles and I said yes, I didn't ask her, she asked me! Available to download now on - iPhone & iPad and Android Let me wait here one hour before the match start. It's fair that they support Emma and of course is a great memory for me." Niemeier said she was nervous before the match on a show court. "It's amazing," she told an appreciative lunchtime crowd.