'Back to reality' - Mats Wilander not surprised by Emma Raducanu first-round exit at US Open

Eurosport expert Mats Wilander has given his reaction to defending champion Emma Raducanu suffering a first-round defeat to Alize Cornet at the US Open.

Raducanu, on her first match back in New York since her memorable win 12 months ago, battled hard against her unseeded French opponent but was ultimately unable to find the answers to get anywhere close to making the second round, succumbing 3-6 3-6.

In truth, Cornet - who beat world No. 1 Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon earlier this summer - was arguably the toughest first-round draw Raducanu could have got, but there is a silver lining in that Raducanu now "has the target off her back" - as she put it afterwards - and can focus on climbing back up the WTA rankings.

For Wilander, Raducanu's loss was no real surprise given the two players' respective form in 2022, and highlighted it as an "important step" on the Brit's career journey.

"It looked to me like she was playing OK," Wilander said on Eurosport. "She started off well in the second set, that is when I thought she was going to turn it around. But there are opponents and match-ups at different parts of your career that are a good draw and not a good draw.

"I would say that for Raducanu right now, playing someone like Cornet who is smart and experienced, is not a good draw. She [Cornet] doesn't make mistakes and also is a giant killer, she's not afraid of the bigger players. It's just not a good draw. So is that [Raducanu's loss] a surprise? Not really to be honest.

"I do think that we now are going to start seeing what Raducanu is all about. She's going to drop all the ranking points, and she's going to start from zero, except she will still be in the majors and in most tournaments. Hopefully, she can hang on to [current coach] Dmitry Tursunov for a little longer than a few months because I think that is important too.

"I don't see much of a difference from Emma this year compared to last year, except she was just confident and other players were scared to play her. It's obviously a surprise that the defending champion goes out but at the same time, she's been on tour for a year and two months. It is not a worry to me at all. In fact, I think this is a very, very important step in her career that defending this title is over and she can now focus on her tennis, and trying to get her ranking up in a normal way, rather than just rise completely to the top.

"Emma is good but she's not great. She had a lot of confidence last year, and she is a fighter, and she plays well. The only thing I don't know is, I feel like she hasn't quite found her identity as a player. Is she a bit of a risk-taker? Does she play really aggressively? Or does she use her movement skills, and dial back a little bit and play with a little bit of variation? Maybe a little bit more like Simona Halep used to play?

"I haven't quite seen her path - what is she going to actually end up playing like? Because she's good at everything, doesn't quite have the killer shot. Let's work and figure out what it is that makes her happy in terms of how she plays, and then this is how she’s going to end up playing. Of course, we're always going to try and make improvements, but I think that's the one part where I'm a little confused. But again, she's so young, and she hasn't really been given a proper chance to live a normal life. It is just nuts what happened to her.

"Right now, she's sort of in between aggressive and not being really aggressive, and I think she can be aggressive and she has more confidence. Obviously, the way she played last year is the way she needs to play, but that was also a player that had so much confidence and freedom and no pressure that we most probably will never see the likes of again.

"I'm very excited to see her continue and push forwards because I do think that she seems like a great person. She has a great attitude. She's obviously the biggest thing that happened in British sports in a long, long, long time, for the women's side and on the men's side, too. How do you deal with that? Well, it's now back to reality, which I think could not have come soon enough to be honest."

Raducanu was left to reflect on what has been a difficult 2022 at the Grand Slams, but one in which she says she has learned a great deal about herself. She is also pleased to now have a "clean slate" ahead of next year.

"I think it was a pretty tough match against a really experienced player," Raducanu said afterwards.

"[I'm] obviously disappointed to lose first round. Credit to Alize, she played pretty well. Obviously, really disappointing, really sad to leave here. It's probably my favourite tournament.

"But also, in a way, I'm happy because it's a clean slate. I'm going to drop down the rankings. Climb my way back up. In a way, the target will be off my back slightly. I just have another chance to claw my way back up there.

"I've been doing some really good work in the last six weeks especially. I'm just looking forward to putting more of those weeks together consistently, then we'll see what happens."

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