British Tennis Star Struggles with High-Bouncing Ball and Elite-Level Competition

Emma Raducanu’s journey to the second week of the Italian Open has come to an abrupt halt, as she was outclassed by Coco Gauff in a 6-1, 6-2 defeat. The fourth-seeded Gauff’s supreme performance showcased her dominance on the red clay, leaving Raducanu to ponder her struggles with the high-bouncing ball and the physical and mental challenge of facing the world’s best players.

Raducanu, who had been on a roll with three wins against solid top 100 opponents, found it difficult to get a good hit on the windy Monday afternoon. “I found it really hard today,” she said. “I think the conditions were so different. It was really windy and so high bouncing, and I just found like every ball was out of my strike zone, so I couldn’t really get a good hit.”

Gauff, on the other hand, played a brilliant match, using her forehand to overwhelm Raducanu and continually spinning the ball high out of the Briton’s strike zone. Her defence made it difficult for Raducanu to hit through her, leaving her feeling like there was no space on the court.

This is not the first time Raducanu’s game has looked underpowered against the elite. Although she times the ball sweetly and is a solid athlete, she was outmatched in both departments by Gauff, as was the case during her loss to Iga Swiatek in Australia. The challenge for Raducanu is to continue adding layers to her game so that she can more effectively disrupt a player of Gauff’s calibre.

Despite the emphatic ending, Raducanu took an optimistic view on the defeat, stressing the importance of learning from it. “For me to see the ball today that I was receiving was really valuable,” she said. “I haven’t really played these top opponents very often, because I haven’t been in the tournament for long enough, so for me to be kind of playing them now is good exposure.”

Raducanu’s performance in the Italian Open has still been an excellent week for her, and she now sits at No 42 in the live rankings, two places behind the British No 1 Katie Boulter. She should head into the French Open full of confidence, taking good confidence from her results and looking forward to the challenge of the red clay.