Emma Raducanu quipped back after she was questioned about a glamorous dinner she attended with Naomi Campbell ahead of her disappointing defeat in Doha. It was the 21-year-old’s only first-round loss of the season and she later admitted she didn’t have much time to adjust to the conditions. But Raducanu isn’t listening to suggestions that she should alter her plans next time.
Raducanu is back in action in Indian Wells as she looks to bounce back from a tough loss at the Qatar Open, where she lost 6-0 7-6(6) to Anhelina Kalinina. The Brit said she had been “struggling with everything” during the match and still wasn’t used to playing outdoors.
Her comments raised some eyebrows, as the former world No. 10 opted to arrive in Doha a few days late so that she could attend the One&Only One Za’abeel Grand Opening in Dubai just two days before her match against Kalinina. Raducanu was pictured sitting alongside supermodel Naomi Campbell at the dinner table and was also seen in snaps with Vanessa Hudgens.
It led to questions over her pre-tournament preparations given the outcome in Doha. But Raducanu has now given a sassy response to questions over her scheduling decisions. Asked whether she’d make any changes, the 2021 US Open winner told The Times: “Not at all actually.
“I think that I trained [with] three hours of tennis, an hour and a half in the gym and had two hours off in the evening. But I don’t know, you should tell me what I should do in my off time from 8pm till 10pm.”
After making a point of her commitment to her tennis during the day, Raducanu added: “It’s basically like training in Dubai and then having a nice dinner with a lot of people. The only difference is my dinners go public.”
While Raducanu has no regrets over her dinner plans, she will be trying to make an effort with her schedule when it comes to keeping up with the demands of the tour. Since winning the US Open as a qualifier in 2021, the world No. 250 has been plagued by setbacks and still has little experience in competing consistently on the pro circuit.
It’s another issue that Raducanu touched on after her disappointing defeat to Kalinina. “I think that it’s hard for me to get used to the tour schedule I’d say, It’s just like tournament back tournament straightaway. So I think that I need to kind of schedule my tournaments a little bit better as well as trying to get more matches under my belt,” she said at the time.
After a few weeks of training at home, Raducanu will be raring to go in Indian Wells where she received a wildcard into the main draw. The 21-year-old faces world No. 96 Rebeka Masarova in her opening match and she has plenty of ranking points to defend after reaching the fourth round 12 months ago.
