Emma Raducanu said it was no surprise she rolled her ankle on the ‘slippery’ indoor courts at the ASB Classic on Thursday night in her match against Viktoria Kuzmova.
The 2021 US Open winner was forced to pull out of the match at the beginning of the third set, having rolled her ankle in the one prior and she left the court in tears.
The match was moved to an indoor court, because of the rain outside, but unlike all of the outdoor courts, the indoor courts weren’t resurfaced prior to the tournament.
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All the players this week have said the indoor courts played differently to the outdoor ones, but Raducanu went as far to say they were dangerous to play on and was naturally devastated that her Australian Open plans could be in jeopardy.
“It’s difficult to take,” Raducanu said.
“I’ve put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I’ve been feeling good and optimistic.
“So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle is pretty disappointing, in the first week as well.
Phil Walter/Getty Images
Emma Raducanu was forced to pull out of her second round match at the ASB Classic with an ankle injury.
“I thought I was playing some pretty decent tennis.
“The courts are incredibly slick, like very slippery, so to be honest it’s not a surprise that this happened to someone.
“It’s out of my control and after a very long day of waiting around.
“But we’ll assess over the next few days and see what the next steps are.”
Raducanu doesn’t yet know if she’ll be able to play at the Australian Open. While she said she had enjoyed her time in Auckland, she added that there were aspects of the Classic she wasn’t happy with, although she didn’t elaborate on what they were.
“We’ll assess over the next few days and make a plan,” she said of her injury.
“But Auckland overall, it rained a lot this week, so I didn’t get to see much and I thought maybe certain aspects could have been organised better, but overall I had pleasant support when playing outdoors and the crowd made me feel really welcome and at home.”
Raducanu played brilliant tennis to take the first set 6-0, but lost the second 7-5 and midway through it appeared to roll her ankle.
Before the third set could begin Raducanu needed lengthy treatment on her left ankle.
She went back on court, but after one point appeared to be in pain and walked to the net to shake hands with Kuzmova from Slovakia. As the 2021 US Open winner walked off the court she wiped away tears.
Phil Walter/Getty Images
Coco Gauff has barely put a foot wrong so far at the ASB Classic.
She then received further medical treatment to find out the extent of her injury.
The match was played on an indoor court at the ASB Tennis Centre due to bad weather outside.
Having to retire is a crushing blow for Raducanu, as this was her first tournament since picking up a wrist injury towards the end of last season.
In the earlier match Coco Gauff defeated Sofia Kennin 6-4 6-4.
While it was a straight set win for Gauff, like most players she said it was a tough day.
The 18-year-old American defeated the former Australian Open champion in a match played on an indoor court and while it was enough of a battle to beat her compatriot, Gauff also had to deal with having no idea when she’d be on court or whether she’d play indoors or outdoors, because of the bad weather.
“It’s been tough honestly,” Gauff said.
“Just waiting, waiting, waiting waiting, then being put indoors.
“I kind of speculated it would be indoors, but I didn’t think we’d wait so long before they made the decision.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect the rain to stop for a bit, I thought it was going to pour all day.
“I went back to the hotel, took a nap, then came back here.
“The tough part was deciding when to eat and I didn’t end up eating before the match, I had lunch at 12pm, but I didn’t expect to go on court so late.”
Gauff has progressed nicely through the tournament and hasn’t dropped a set against a couple of tricky opponents, playing Germany’s Tatiana Maria in the first round.
“Today was not the match I needed to win, but the level of the match gives me a lot of confidence, regardless of whether I won or lost,” Gauff said.
“It wasn’t an easy match. Watching Sofia play the last couple of tournaments at the end of the year, I think this is some of the best tennis she’s played in a while and I think that should give her a lot of confidence going into Australia.
“It also gives me a lot of confidence, playing a former Australian Open champ and her playing some good tennis.
“It wasn’t an easy win, but it does give me confidence too.”
In the last singles match of an extremely long day, No 3 seed Leylah Fernandez from Canada crushed Austria’s Julia Grabher 6-0 6-1.
That followed her 6-1 6-1 win over Brenda Fruhvirtova in the first round.
“I knew the tournament was going to be super hard, there are a lot of women who are high level and have been on tour for a very long time and have the experience,” Fernandez said.
“I’m just happy that the hard work I’ve been putting in for the last couple of months has been paying off up to now and I just hope I can keep this level up for the remainder of the tournament and just keep working and improving.”
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