Emma Raducanu Hints At Changes Moving Forward After First-Round Exit In Qatar

Britain's Emma Raducanu has revealed that she plans on adjusting her playing schedule after crashing out in the opening round of this year's Qatar Open.

It was a disappointing outing for the 21-year-old as she committed many mistakes in a 6-0 7-6 loss to Ukraine's Anhelina Kalinina on Monday in Doha.

Raducanu returned to the court last month after being ruled out for most of 2023 with wrist and ankle injuries. Her latest match follows on from a 6-4 6-1 loss to Ons Jabeur at the Abu Dhabi Open last week and means she has four defeats in seven matches this calendar year.

This run includes a second-round loss to Yafan Wang at the year's first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open.

Following back-to-back defeats across different tournaments, Raducanu has stressed the need for her to plan her season out better.

She told Sky Sports: "It is hard for me to get used to the tour schedule. It is one tournament then another straight away. I need to schedule my tournaments a bit better and try to get more matches under my belt."

Due to being ranked number 262 in the world, Raducanu needed a wildcard entry to participate in the Qatar Open.

In the first set against Kalinina, Raducanu was struggling to play anywhere near her best tennis as she won just 10 points and made 15 unforced errors. The Brit was visibly fatigued from her recent load of matches and lost every game in a rapid opening set that lasted just 22 minutes.

The start of the second set looked to be following a similar trajectory to the first as Kalinina broke Raducanu in the very first game. However, Raducanu managed to finally get going in the contest and broke back immediately before holding her next service game to lead for the first time in the match at 2-1.

Kalinina was able to find another break later in the set to go up 6-5 and be able to serve out the match. The Ukrainian looked to be on her way to victory as she had two match points whilst serving, but Raducanu was able to save them and broke her opponent to force a tie-break.

Raducanu was then in a great position as she had a set point whilst leading 6-5 in the tie-break and was close to forcing a deciding set. Unfortunately for the Brit, Kalinina was able to hold her off as she won three successive points to win 8-6 in the tiebreaker.

Afterwards, Raducanu was brutally honest over her display in Doha, saying: "I was struggling with everything – serve, return, forehand, backhand. I felt like I never really got into it."

Monday's match marked the first time in a year since Raducanu had played during the day and she admitted to needing more practice in the conditions.

The 21-year-old said: "I think I need to practice training outside a bit more because it's very different and also the light, conditions, shadows - it's really hard to kind of see the ball, I found towards the end."

The Brit would have been wanting to make a statement at the Qatar Open as it is the first WTA 1000 event of the year and features participation from many of the world's top female tennis players. Stars such as Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Jabeur are among those competing but Australian Open champion, Aryna Sabalenka, is absent.

The next WTA 1000 event on the 2024 schedule is the Dubai Tennis Championships, with it beginning in just under a week. Raducanu will not request a wildcard to compete at the event and is instead heading back to Britain to recover and work on making improvements to her game.

She will be aiming to be ready for the WTA 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami in March, before then switching attention to the start of the clay season in April.