AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2023

Emma Raducanu

Press Conference

C. GAUFF/E. Raducanu

6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Emma, just talk us through your thoughts on the match and how you played today.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think it was always going to be a tough match and a tough challenge to play against Coco. She's a great opponent, great athlete. But, yeah, it was a good experience to be out there on Rod Laver.

THE MODERATOR: Who would like the first question?

Q. How did you find Rod Laver? I think you have had a hit on it once or twice before. It's a big arena. Did it feel different? Did it play differently from how you expected?

EMMA RADUCANU: I thought it was quite slow. Like, the outside courts are very quick in comparison.

Obviously, with the lights and everything going on during a match it is different to when it's an empty stadium. It does feel quite different. I think in the beginning it took some adjusting to.

But it's such a nice court, and I'm happy to have had a match on that now so next time if I come back and play again on that court, I'll be more familiar.

Q. Coco is known as one of the better defensive players on tour, like one of the fastest. Just curious, how difficult is to put the ball past her, especially on the slower kind of Rod Laver arena?

EMMA RADUCANU: I mean, it's difficult. She is a great mover, great athlete. Puts another ball in play, so you feel like you have to squeeze it closer to the line and then she kind of teases errors out of you that way.

But, yeah, I think she's a good athlete. It's one of her strengths, I would say.

But I think I had a lot of chances today, and I was creating quite a few. So, yeah, it obviously sucks a bit, but it's fine.

Q. Just on that, how do you kind of balance your feelings about it because obviously you wanted to win the match and you had your chances, but at the same time you were going toe-to-toe with somebody who is in the top 10?

EMMA RADUCANU: 13 days ago I would have -- like, with what I had to be in the draw right now is a massive, you know, effort and achievement.

I would say, like, all the chips were against us, and the chances of me playing this tournament were very, very low. So I had extremely limited practice time, and I think I can say that now I'm not, like, competing anymore (laughing).

But, yeah, it was obviously going to be a push to get me on the court. I think 13 days ago if you would have told us, like, Hey, you're going to be in the draw and win a round, it would have been a massive effort for sure.

Saying that, I still think I didn't necessarily play my best today. Although, like, the second set I had chances and were pushing, it was still I felt like I could have done better myself.

But props to her. She's a great, great opponent and great athlete.

Q. How was your ankle and also Mats Wilander recommended that you seemed to be having some issue with your stomach or side. I don't know whether he was making it up or...

EMMA RADUCANU: As I said, I think that the limited practice time is difficult to play matches and be in that sort of condition. But, yeah, I think we did a great job to get onto the court this week. Obviously I've just got a lot of work to do from here and just looking forward.

Q. Would you like the chance to get to play her again after a little bit more training time, a little bit of game time? Would you see maybe you two developing a bit of a rivalry over the years and that would be good for the sport?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I'd really like to play her again. I think that maybe with more than five hours under my belt of practice.

Yes, she's a great opponent, and as I said in my previous press conference, I think that we're going to be playing each other many times in the future as we're both young and coming. You know, like, we're going to be the next generation.

Q. What's your itinerary now? As a second question, where do you see yourself come Wimbledon once you've had an extended training block with Sebastian?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I'm actually not sure. I just have to review the body right now. I've had some niggles in the past few months, and I just need to get that sorted, train, and then we'll see after that.

But I'm actually just looking forward to putting in the work, and I feel, as I said before, I'm putting in a good system in place, and I'm really buying into and trusting the work that I'm doing with Sebastian and the rest of the team.

So, yeah, I'm feeling good and confident that in six months time I know it's not going to be, like, the finished product, but hopefully I would have made strides.

Q. You played really, really aggressively tonight. Is that the way that you feel is going to be the best for you going forward?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah. I played aggressive, and also I know that I'm not going to beat Coco right now by pushing the ball in and trying to outrun her. It's just not how I want to play either.

You know, I have that vision of myself being an aggressive player. Yeah, I think that I didn't want to get out there into really long, extended rallies with her and in the condition I'm currently in either. So, yeah, that's also the way I want to play in the future.

Q. Did you watch Andy's match? What do you think of the guy at 35 rolling over the pitch doing dive volleys with a metal hip?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I saw it. I saw it. I watched four sets of it. It was incredible. I think, like, we had practice yesterday, but we stopped practice, and we just, like, went on 20 minutes later to watch the breaker in the last set.

But, yeah, it's just incredible. He is such a role model for everyone and in British tennis, but also I think on the tour what he is doing and achieving. Yeah, I'm so, so happy for him.

Q. You've talked about how happy you are with the work you and your team did to get you ready. Just specifically I guess what are you most happy about with your team and the way you worked together over the past week?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I mean, we just did absolutely everything we can. We had pretty much, like, ten days before the tournament, and day one I was in crutches and doing pool rehab (laughing).

To get onto the court from there has been a massive effort, but we've just been doing everything from, yeah, pool rehab to treatment to isometrics to everything, you know, and just taking care of what we could control. And there were a lot of things that we couldn't, but how we kind of faced the adversities that were thrown at us, I think we did that in a really good collective effort and to stay positive even though the chances were pretty low. I think that the mental side of it was big too.

Q. Did Jez have any interest into that? Is he kind of still consulting or whatever?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I mean, he is obviously not here, but I did a great block with him in this the offseason. Yeah, I'm really hoping to continue that work. Yeah, I really like the work that we do as well. He is obviously so experienced and the best in the business. So yeah, it will be good.

Q. Emma, obviously you could have just said, Bad luck, next tournament after this I'll just rest and get ready in a more normal time frame. Why did it matter so much for you to be able to play here and to push so hard to get ready?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think that for the slams you always kind of push yourself a bit more. If anything, you would sacrifice the other tournaments more than the slam.

You would kind of push your body to the absolute limit for these tournaments and take the time you need after to recover. Especially because the next one is in quite a few months time.

Yeah, we really wanted to push through this one, and now it's just time to review and see where to go from here.