[Novice]

I didn’t get a chance to watch the match but I saw the highlights. At the beginning of this year I think very few of us would have hoped to see this kind of tennis from Emma.
Most times her mental strength is unquestionable. A few times it has been quite a letdown that she has been unable to regroup and brush off the bad points to fight and move on. This is something I really hope she will work on.

Roig’s work with her is already showing results and yet they have but been together a short time. Let her finish the year being able to say she has played her first full year on the tour. I think this is a major stress factor for her and the fact that she has never been able to play the Asian swing fully.

She showed a lot of mental strength fighting off a number of break points. And played some excellent tennis. Some volleys and one amazing get Alcaraz like from outside the baseline.Just one ace away from victory in both this and the Krejkicova match. So frustrating. But hopefully she and coach will reflect on all the positives.

If she can keep fit and playing, no doubt her game is going the right way. Hopefully a rest, enjoying some local food (which unlike some other players she enjoys). And push on.

 

[zenga10]

Obviously, it would have been better to see Emma make the 3rd set competitive. However, from Emma's point of view, she had played as well as she can for the first 2 sets and been on the brink of a straight sets victory, which would have been huge for her and for her relationship with Roig. Instead she finds herself one set all. I'm sure she was totally gutted.

I don't think she wasn't trying, but she was disheartened and it only takes a dip of about 5% at this level in order for your opponent to run away with the set. Always in the background is that Emma has suffered 4 years of abuse from critics, which means she is constantly under stress. I don't think anything is gained by being critical of her. I think what she needs is support.

Yes i agree she was gutted, and it was hard for her to recompose herself sufficiently to win games. A bathroom break may have helped her. But maybe only if she had a plan on what to do when she got to the bathroom. It helps some players, and her before. A bathroom break wasn't on her mind today i guess.

Anyway, i'm glad she came out firing at the start of the match- i said yesterday she would do so, and put some doubt into Pegula's head. Which she did. Almost made it, which is positive.

 

[Henman Hill]

3 match points where she had at least a 50/50 chance.
The one for me was where Pegula clipped the net. Emma needed one clinical shot and she back off and lost the killer instinct. It was like she was almost part celebrating already or something I thought.
We all knew the 3rd was going to be a wash out. That is a massive area of potential improvement for Emma.
Still, brilliant standard of tennis in the first 2 sets.

 

[edenstanwarr]

Her string of tie break losses coincide with Petchey coming on board Coincidence or a shift in focus in Emma's training and/or match planning?

She actually won 3 tiebreaks in Miami: two against Navarro and one against Pegula. Then she won one at Madrid against Lamens.

The first one she lost was against Joint in Rome. She then won one against Li at Eastbourne, but lost a second one against Joint at Eastbourne. Then she lost her third against Sabalenka at Wimbledon.

She had a brief respite, winning one against Kostyuk in Washington, then lost two against Sabalenka in Cincinatti. Then came Krejikova and Pegula.

So
3 Sabalenka
2 Joint
1 Krejikova
1 Pegula

 

[Novice]

She actually won 3 tiebreaks in Miami: two against Navarro and one against Pegula. Then she won one at Madrid against Lamens.

The first one she lost was against Joint in Rome. She then won one against Li at Eastbourne, but lost a second one against Joint at Eastbourne. Then she lost her third against Sabalenka at Wimbledon.

She had a brief respite, winning one against Kostyuk in Washington, then lost two against Sabalenka in Cincinatti. Then came Krejikova and Pegula.

So
3 Sabalenka
2 Joint
1 Krejikova
1 Pegula

She wasn’t herself at Eastbourne for some undisclosed reason. The losses were mainly against 3 very experienced players. The only thing which is particularly annoying is that she couldn’t pull out one her amazing aces when needed in her last two matches as her serve has shown a lot of improvement.

I just hope that she and those around her focus on the positives and that she doesn’t put too much pressure on herself in the coming tournaments. Hopefully add more points before the end of the year to get decent seeding. But above all end the year uninjured ready to regroup and continue building.

 

[tennismomfan]

Simon Briggs writes:

Emma Raducanu suffered an unpleasant case of deja vu as she saw three match points go begging for the second time in as many tournaments.

Raducanu’s run in Beijing was thus a repeat of what happened in Seoul just over a week ago: a clinical straight-sets win against an opponent she was expected to beat, followed by a devastating failure to close out her next match from a winning position.

The opponent this time was Jessica Pegula, the world No 7. Just like Barbora Krejcikova at the Korean Open, Pegula lost the first set and then found herself on the verge of defeat in a second set tie-break. Both women came up against match point on three separate occasions.

Again, though, when Raducanu had the chance to administer the coup de grace, she simply could not find the winning shot.

The frustrating thing for her camp – which on this occasion consisted of coach Francis Roig and mother Renee – was that Raducanu did not do much wrong on any of the three match points.

View attachment 400149

Emma Raducanu’s mother Renee Zhai alongside her coach Francisco Roig watched on from the sidelines Credit: Reuters/Tingshu Wang

On the first, she walloped a huge return off Pegula’s second serve, but Pegula managed to reflex the ball back up the line with a flick of her wrists.

On the second, Pegula got lucky with a backhand that ricocheted up off the net-cord. Raducanu then struck a solid approach and came forward to the net but was passed up the line again.

The third came on Raducanu’s serve, and she landed it well, but Pegula still made a deep return and then tantalised her through a slow and loopy rally until Raducanu miscued a forehand.


Then, having tiptoed back from the precipice, Pegula relaxed and started middling every ball as a demoralised Raducanu found it difficult to maintain her energy and focus. The third set got away quickly as she went down to a 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 defeat in two hours and 21 minutes.

“That was really intense,” said Pegula in her on-court interview. “I got myself back into the tie-break, and just wanted to keep the pressure on and when she hit the double-fault, I knew I was still playing good tennis. Like, it was right there. It was really, really close.

“To be honest, I think I got a little bit lucky on two of those where I hit two backhand winners, but otherwise I just tried to keep fighting for as long as I could.”

There was indeed a double-fault in the tie-break when Raducanu led 5-4, as well as a tentative backhand into the net to lose the previous rally, which she will probably regret more than any of the match points themselves.

Then, towards the end of the third set, she started signalling that she was struggling physically, stretching her back out and not really going for the return against a wide serve on the penultimate point.

This will be another difficult result to digest, but Raducanu needs to focus on the quality of her footwork and ball-striking in those first two sets, when she was good value for her lead.

Her many detractors will no doubt accuse her of mental weakness, but those match points against both Krejcikova and Pegula were not handed over. She could play for years without encountering two such feats of escapology in successive tournaments.

Annabel Croft, who is far from being a cheerleader, put it well on Sky Sport’s TV coverage. “It was very unfortunate and unlucky, two matches like this: it’s very unusual. To have two back to back … and I think she really played so well to go to those match points.”

Raducanu’s relationship with Roig will need to be stable if she is to get her head straight for her next scheduled event in Wuhan in a week’s time. Assuming that those late aches and pains did not signal anything significant, she needs to remember that she is making progress.

Her serve has been more penetrative in recent matches, while her net-play against Pegula showed significant improvement. And when she took the handbrake off and really went after her forehand, she was able to take charge of points against a high-quality opponent.

On the flip side, this was her ninth straight loss against a member of the world’s top 10. If she wants to accelerate her slow but steady ascent of the rankings ladder, she needs to start turning promising positions into wins.

Emma Raducanu must start turning promising positions into wins after painful China exit

Emma Raducanu suffered an unpleasant case of déjà vu as three match points went begging for the second time in as many tournaments.

www.telegraph.co.uk

I couldn't watch the match in real time, and was only able to catch the score afterwards. But I could watch the full reply on Youtube. Spent most of the day away from EE, and now I finally feel resilient enough to wade into the post-Emma-loss cesspool of EE.

The most concerning part of the whole match was that she had back issues again in the third set. However, the silver lining of this is that she had her back problem much later in this match than in the match against Krejcikova. Pegula is a better player than Krejcikova - she is unflappable under pressure - so we see that she and Emma are pretty even against each other when Emma's body is cooperating. In the match against Krejcikova, Emma's back started bothering her at 4-2 in the second set, which led to her playing badly the rest of the match - and it was more of a miracle that she managed to take her service game to go 5-2, than it was a wonder that she didn't manage to convert any of her match points after that to win the match. This match was totally different - she had all three match points while her body was holding up, but then her back collapsed in the third set.

So I would say that there is definitely improvement in her fitness. Whatever she has been doing with her back since Seoul, it looks to have made a positive difference. I hope it will continue to help her in the upcoming tournaments.

The other really positive thing is that she made this match very competitive. Though it was another loss against another top 10 player, she was agonizingly close, and she actually lost the 2nd set by going for the line and missing by millimeters on the last point... So she wasn't being not brave.

All those posters who claim that what they really hate is when Emma loses to a top player by a large margin, that they would be happy only if she would give it a fight and make it competitive, well, voila! Here's your close match. You should be happy.

 

[RossG01_]

She actually won 3 tiebreaks in Miami: two against Navarro and one against Pegula. Then she won one at Madrid against Lamens.

The first one she lost was against Joint in Rome. She then won one against Li at Eastbourne, but lost a second one against Joint at Eastbourne. Then she lost her third against Sabalenka at Wimbledon.

She had a brief respite, winning one against Kostyuk in Washington, then lost two against Sabalenka in Cincinatti. Then came Krejikova and Pegula.

So
3 Sabalenka
2 Joint
1 Krejikova
1 Pegula

I think those tiebreak streaks are meaningless. They tell nothing about the player. The same player can go through a run of barely losing tiebreak then when they lose 1 or 2 they start struggling to win them. They're not very viable things to build on. Even whatever we're discussing about Emma now is very futile and doesn't tell anything about her progress. She had a lot of matches where she bailed herself out and avoided a massive choke and then you have her last 2 losses from match points up which are well overdue. Are they really anything of note that denies her progress since the start of 2024? She has massively improved since March. I will throw random numbers but let's say she won say 10 matches while avoiding a choke losing many match points before actually losing one from match points up. She could lose a few matches in a row from match points up (I don't think that will happen) as she had moments where she avoided a choke she will have cases where she will actually choke but it is about how often these happen. It doesn't signal mental weakness anyway. The fact she actually played so long and avoided a lot of chokes before choking a match is a sign of mental strength itself.

 

[Lurker79]

Del - I should read posts properly before replying

 

[BashmentChild]

I couldn't watch the match in real time, and was only able to catch the score afterwards. But I could watch the full reply on Youtube. Spent most of the day away from EE, and now I finally feel resilient enough to wade into the post-Emma-loss cesspool of EE.

The most concerning part of the whole match was that she had back issues again in the third set. However, the silver lining of this is that she had her back problem much later in this match than in the match against Krejcikova. Pegula is a better player than Krejcikova - she is unflappable under pressure - so we see that she and Emma are pretty even against each other when Emma's body is cooperating. In the match against Krejcikova, Emma's back started bothering her at 4-2 in the second set, which led to her playing badly the rest of the match - and it was more of a miracle that she managed to take her service game to go 5-2, than it was a wonder that she didn't manage to convert any of her match points after that to win the match. This match was totally different - she had all three match points while her body was holding up, but then her back collapsed in the third set.

So I would say that there is definitely improvement in her fitness. Whatever she has been doing with her back since Seoul, it looks to have made a positive difference. I hope it will continue to help her in the upcoming tournaments.

The other really positive thing is that she made this match very competitive. Though it was another loss against another top 10 player, she was agonizingly close, and she actually lost the 2nd set by going for the line and missing by millimeters on the last point... So she wasn't being not brave.

All those posters who claim that what they really hate is when Emma loses to a top player by a large margin, that they would be happy only if sset. I he would give it a fight and make it competitive, well, voila! Here's your close match. You should be happy.

I too think Emma was protecting her back and why she was not going all out for the 3rd set. I don't think it was purely mental having come so close to winning the match as in Seoul. But she knows the level of stress her back can take at this moment that would enable her to do well in the Asian swing going forward. After the two sets with Pegula I think she received all the learning and practice she could take and having not won the match was prepared to 'back off' as the long tern investment on her back is what really matters - even if it looked like a 'choked' or that she delibrately 'threw' her chances.' She will be back, better and stronger.......the trajectory is upwards and looking pretty' steep'

 

[GIANT_SLAYER]

When Emma lost to Krejcikova in Seoul, did she even speak to the press and give interviews etc.? If she did, I must have missed them all. Guess we'll see if Emma speaks to the press in Beijing?

 

[genius]

is she experimenting with rackets n tensions which results in lack of control when she needs it?

 

[Zaubers]

EMMA played outstanding tennis for two sets.
Great powerful deep shots, phenomenal retrieving, good serving
very good level from both players.
I thought EMMA had Pegula on the ropes in the second set.
great match to watch
I saw nothing wrong with her back neither did I see anything lost match, I really do not want to hear anything about it but tough for me I will just have to read some unsubstantiated theories about her back.
If EMMA actually does have back problems I am very very very saaaaaaaaad.
GO EMMA GO

 

[zenga10]

OK.. just finished watching the 2nd and 3rd sets on TC. The shot that Emma would want back I think is the 2nd MP at 8-7 in the tiebreak, when Jess's shot hit the net cord drawing Emma in where she then had the court open with Jess behind the baseline- could have hit a dropshot, cross court FH or DTL FH which she hit but for that to be successful she had to hit it hard which she didn't. And Jess got to hit and hit a great BH passing shot. But she had the match there, I think CC FH would have been the sure shot, she had a good angle.

Emma started off the 3rd set well, but Jess had new life, and she found herself down two breaks at 0-3 at the changeover and soon nothing was going her way but she did not give up, was hitting winners even at 0-5.

I hope Emma will not be too down from this because she's playing great, it was a great match, just a bit rattled probably after losing 3 MPS but she valiantly fought on and wasn't visibly upset. I still think she is going to go deep in one of these Asian tournaments.

PS...what tf was Simon Briggs talking about? I didn't notice any physical issues at all in the 3rd set. None.

 

[RossG01_]

Until the start of Cincinnati Emma lost 15 times to top players. 11 of those were in straight sets (some of them very dominant losses) and 4 were in 3 sets. Since of the start of Cincinnati she lost 4 times to top players 3 of them were in 3 sets (2 of which came from match points up). Regardless of the scenarios of the third sets especially against Krejcikova and Pegula Emma is clearly closing the gap to the top players. Emma played great tennis for 2 sets against both Krejcikova and Pegula forcing them to bring their best tennis when down match points with their backs leaning on the wall because she was playing very good tennis. With the scheduling of tournaments she has been following coupled with her ability to consistently alternate between training and match play without any major interruption due to injuries Emma is definitely on an upward curve and her moment will come. We shouldn't be rushed for her to win tournaments a breakthrough is imminent for her.

 

[desmondpaul]

Until the start of Cincinnati Emma lost 15 times to top players. 11 of those were in straight sets (some of them very dominant losses) and 4 were in 3 sets. Since of the start of Cincinnati she lost 4 times to top players 3 of them were in 3 sets (2 of which came from match points up). Regardless of the scenarios of the third sets especially against Krejcikova and Pegula Emma is clearly closing the gap to the top players. Emma played great tennis for 2 sets against both Krejcikova and Pegula forcing them to bring their best tennis when down match points with their backs leaning on the wall because she was playing very good tennis. With the scheduling of tournaments she has been following coupled with her ability to consistently alternate between training and match play without any major interruption due to injuries Emma is definitely on an upward curve and her moment will come. We shouldn't be rushed for her to win tournaments a breakthrough is imminent for her.

The other aspect irrespective of what happens for rest of 2025, in 2026 Emma does not have significant points from any individual tournament to defend having reached one W1000 QF and a W500 semi. If she improves her level a little from yesterday's performance 2026 will be significantly better rankings wise.

 

[droogiefret]

Until the start of Cincinnati Emma lost 15 times to top players. 11 of those were in straight sets (some of them very dominant losses) and 4 were in 3 sets. Since of the start of Cincinnati she lost 4 times to top players 3 of them were in 3 sets (2 of which came from match points up). Regardless of the scenarios of the third sets especially against Krejcikova and Pegula Emma is clearly closing the gap to the top players. Emma played great tennis for 2 sets against both Krejcikova and Pegula forcing them to bring their best tennis when down match points with their backs leaning on the wall because she was playing very good tennis. With the scheduling of tournaments she has been following coupled with her ability to consistently alternate between training and match play without any major interruption due to injuries Emma is definitely on an upward curve and her moment will come. We shouldn't be rushed for her to win tournaments a breakthrough is imminent for her.

I think we're looking for a 'dragon slaying performance' (is that the term?) where she plays out of her skin and, with a bit of luck and force of will, gets an amazing but well deserved run. I mean that's how she started out and why we all fell in love with her.

Everyone can see the progress, we are just impatient for the occasional win above her level (i.e. top 15) that herald her truly advancing.

 

[RossG01_]

Coming into the US Open people could have been thinking that outside her matches against Sabalenka Emma cannot really compete with top players then her sound loss to Rybakina came as a confirmation. However watching the way she played against both Krejcikova and Pegula she played 2 great sets and forced her opponents to fend off match points playing their best tennis. That's improvement by itself. I know we're looking for Emma beating top players but this is coming for sure based on the level she showed in her recent matches it is close to happening.

 

[RossG01_]

I would be way more worried if Emma lost soundly in straight sets to Krejcikova and Pegula rather than in the scenarios that happened because it would show that she isn't progressing against top players with all the work she is doing.

 

[gretagreti]

Agreed, yesterday match showed her progress but also a homework she need to learn

 

[RossG01_]

Actually her last 2 losses show massive progress. Losing from match points up was disappointing but expected well... at least for me