{"id":324936,"date":"2025-08-07T10:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/324936\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T10:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T10:27:16","slug":"be-prepared-aryna-sabalenka-had-no-sympathy-for-emma-raducanu-after-rookie-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/324936\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Be prepared’ – Aryna Sabalenka had no sympathy for Emma Raducanu after rookie mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aryna Sabalenka didn’t have much sympathy when Emma Raducanu had trouble with her racket at Wimbledon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Raducanu fell to a 7-6, 6-4 defeat<\/a> against the World No.1 at the All England Club last month, and fans may remember the Brit being unhappy with her equipment during the match.<\/p>\n

\"Raducanu<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Raducanu was left frustrated by her racket at WimbledonCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

Early on in the third round encounter, the British No.1 claimed\u00a0that the string tension in her racket was off.<\/p>\n

This prompted her to send two rackets to the stringer, but she revealed after the defeat that they took 20 minutes to return.<\/p>\n

Raducanu<\/a> encountered the same problem in her first round victory over Mimi Xu, and needed her team to visit the stringer after the first game.<\/p>\n

After her loss to Sabalenka<\/a>, the 22-year-old explained how her issues with equipment affected her game.<\/p>\n

Raducanu said: “In the first set as well I was struggling with the tension.<\/p>\n

“I felt like the ball was flying. I had all my rackets strung up fresh for the match, and it just felt like it was pinging completely different. <\/p>\n

“It could have been a little bit because the roof was on. I sent a couple rackets to be restrung.<\/p>\n

“It takes like 20 minutes by the time they turn it over. Still, it was a bit difficult. I’m frustrated with that part maybe, small details. But I don’t think I could have made different choices. I think I should have just executed better.”<\/p>\n

And while Raducanu felt slightly hard done by, her opponent considered the British No.1’s struggles a rookie error.<\/p>\n

Having experienced similar issues with racket tension in the past, Sabalenka insisted it pays to be prepared.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Sabalenka battled through against Raducanu, despite trailing in key moments in the matchCredit: Getty\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

The Brit has never made it past the fourth round of WimbledonCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

On Raducanu’s woes, she said: “That’s more to have an extra racket, maybe not in your bag, but your team.<\/p>\n

“For example, my team, they always have like two extra rackets with the higher tension and two extra rackets with lower tension. They prepare it. You don’t have to wait for another racket.”<\/p>\n

Sabalenka\u00a0also recounted a particularly challenging moment in the French Open semi-finals in 2023, where she was beaten by Karolina Muchova in three sets.<\/p>\n

The Belarusian continued: “I also had really terrible experience at French Open last year when I lost in semis against Muchova because I didn’t have [the right] racket.<\/p>\n

“We weren’t prepared. I didn’t have the right tension. I had to play with a lower tension. I didn’t control the ball, didn’t feel well.<\/p>\n

“After that experience we learned it’s four extra rackets in my team’s bag just in case. You never know.<\/p>\n

\"Sabalenka<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Sabalenka recalled her own racket issues at the 2023 French Open, a Grand Slam she is still yet to winCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

“You can wake up and feel great with one tension. Another day you wake up and you don’t feel at all. You’ve got to be prepared.”<\/p>\n

Despite feeling let down by her equipment, Raducanu still managed to put up a strong fight against Sabalenka.<\/p>\n

The 2021 US Open champion<\/a> was beaten after a blockbuster opening set that lasted well over an hour, with the pair battling to an incredible tie-break.<\/p>\n

She saved seven set points before missing the chance herself to claim the first of the match, which eventually allowed Sabalenka to claim a tie-break win.<\/p>\n

In the second set, Raducanu led 4-1 at one point, before the three-time Grand Slam champion won the match by winning the next five games.<\/p>\n

But Sabalenka was unable to take her strong form all the way at Wimbledon, eventually losing in the semi-finals to American Amanda Anisimova.<\/p>\n

\"Raducanu<\/a><\/p>\n

5<\/p>\n

Raducanu is currently preparing for the upcoming US Open, which she won as an 18-year-old in 2021Credit: GETTY<\/p>\n

And Raducanu and Sabalenka could meet again soon<\/a>, with both players in action at the upcoming Cincinnati Open.<\/p>\n

The British star will face either Olga Danilovic or Katie Boulter<\/a> in her opening match, having received a bye in the first round.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And if she wins her match-up, she is likely to come up against Sabalenka, who plays the winner of the match between Marketa Vondrousova and Jaqueline Cristian in her opener.<\/p>\n

Raducanu is still looking for her first ever win over the 27-year-old, having lost both of the pair’s previous two encounters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aryna Sabalenka didn’t have much sympathy when Emma Raducanu had trouble with her racket at Wimbledon. Raducanu fell…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[35772,6359,107663,1070,79,1068,16,15,5067,5068],"class_list":{"0":"post-324936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-aryna-sabalenka","9":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","10":"tag-cincinnati-open","11":"tag-emma-raducanu","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-us-open","17":"tag-wimbledon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114987011898328882","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}