BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 11, 2023

Emma Raducanu

Press Conference

E. RADUCANU/M. Linette

7-6, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Well done. What was your overall sense of today's match?

EMMA RADUCANU: Thanks. Magda is obviously a great opponent. I think she played a really high level today. She's had a great start to the season, like making the semis of Australian Open. I mean, to do that in a slam, it's really impressive. I played her at the back end of last year, and I could definitely tell she improved a lot, I thought.

For me, it was really difficult.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling physically compared to the other day?

EMMA RADUCANU: I'm feeling better than I was the other day. I would say I wasn't at like 100%, but better.

Q. In terms of your tennis, how do you feel about your game compared to the other day? Is that coming on at the same level, same speed?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I'd say I feel more positive about my game today. The first day I didn't really know what was going on (smiling). Today I felt pretty decent out there, especially with the conditions. It was really windy. And, yeah, I did well to overcome it.

Q. Your first back-to-back wins since September, and probably your biggest win over a seeded opponent since US Open. Do you get any feeling like this could be the start of something for you?

EMMA RADUCANU: I just feel good with the way, like, I'm working with my team, not getting too, you know, overly pleased or too down. I'm just plodding away.

Yeah, I feel pretty good about how things are going.

Q. A much different reaction at the end of that match than the other day when you were sort of subdued. Did that one feel especially good and satisfying? Emotionally, how did you experience it?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I was really pleased to have won today. I was the other day, as well. But as I said, I was so out of it, I didn't really know what was going on.

But today, yeah, I was so pleased with the way I fought. Because Magda played, like, really high level. Like some things that were working in the past weren't working today, and I adapted.

Yeah, I was, yeah, just very, very pleased with how I fought and dug in.

Q. You did call for the trainer to have a look at your wrist again. How is the right wrist? Exactly what is the injury?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I got some treatment in between. It's the same. It's manageable. Still able to win matches at this level. Managing it.

Yeah, as to what it is, I'm not going to go into it (smiling).

Q. I'm curious, you came in with basically no expectations, right, from what you said? Do you think that sort of helped you in any way? Is that a good approach? Obviously you want to be practiced up and fit and in form, things like that. But as you're approaching these matches, just sort of doing the best you can and seeing what happens, is that different than, say, last year or other tournaments that you have played?

EMMA RADUCANU: I mean, this tournament I had so little practice in the last few weeks, that really playing the matches has been a bonus and a win. I'm enjoying competing again.

Yeah, I think this feeling of competition definitely beats, you know, being sick or injured or out. So I'm really just cherishing every time I get to step out on the match court.

Q. It seems like your forehand is kind of, the game goes as well as your forehand is working. Is that the stroke that when you were down 4-1 today, seemed like you were able to push her around the court, push her back off the court with that shot, can you just talk about what...

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I mean, my forehand is good. I think I've got a really good game, to be honest. I was feeling it today. I think it was difficult with the conditions, like, one side was so against and one side was so with the wind. You have to kind of adapt how you play, depending on the side you're on.

Yeah, I was feeling the ball well on my forehand. Yeah, I thought that level-wise I played pretty decent.

Q. Just from what you said in terms of cherishing every bit, is that something you can kind of bottle and take on to other courts in other tournaments? Or is it something you're sort of learning how to get to that emotional place?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think, because of the amount of like setbacks I have had and the amount of time I have spent off the court in the past 18 months, it's definitely growing with the feeling and the time on the tour.

I think you definitely appreciate it more when you're able to be on the court. Yeah, recently obviously I had a couple in a row, so I'm just really pleased to be out on the court.

Q. Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should hire somebody to sweep the whole area around you for black cats, stray ladders... because your luck, you've been so unlucky for so long.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I mean, sometimes you wonder, like, you think, like how is this possible (smiling)?

But then very quickly I think you create your own luck. It works both ways. I won the US Open as well, and I think I also have to take the bad luck sometimes, because also, like, good fortune has also come upon me. I think that I wouldn't trade that title for the world.

Yeah, I'm just prepared to take whatever it takes, knowing that I have that in the bank (smiling).