US Open 2022: Emma Raducanu went from being a record champion to being a record cleared in a year

Perhaps Emma Raducanu She wasn’t trying to downplay the expectations placed on her or make life easier when she pushed back the pressure to return to the site of her unexpected and extraordinary US Open championship run in 2021. “I think defending a title is a big deal. invention of the press, ” shot the British in the prelude to the Flushing Meadows tournament.

In any case, his next visit to New York was short-lived. Raducanu became only the third woman in the professional era to lose in the first round the year after winning the US Open. losing 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday night against the French Alize Cornet.

“People, I’m sorry. I know you love Emma very much.”Cornet said as he addressed the crowd at Louis Armstrong Stadium. “She is a great player and a great person”.

The other reigning champions – if you believe in this condition – who quickly retired from the American Grand Slam were Svetlana Kuznetsova, who won it in 2004, and Angelique Kerber, who won it in 2016 (and lost in the first round in 2017 to a Naomi Osaka who had yet to win any of her four major trophies).

Raducanu had blisters on his right hand, with whom he holds his racket, and asked for assistance after the first set to receive treatment. She was clearly outclassed by Cornet, the 32-year veteran who broke the 37-game winning streak of world number 1 Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon.

A year ago, at the age of 18, Raducanu appeared on Flushing Meadows as the 150th-ranked player to only participate in the second major of her career. You have drawn the three games of the preliminary phase and ended up putting together 10 victories become the first player to emerge from the “qualy” to win a Grand Slam titlebeating another seedless teenager, Leylah Fernández, in the final.

Since then, Raducanu has compiled a record of 15-19, with second-round losses in each of the top three majors of 2022. She was the 11th seeded at the US Open.

Cornet is 40th in the rankings and appears to have played his 63rd consecutive Grand Slam tournament, a record. She has only once reached the quarter-finals in such events: at this year’s Australian Open. But she has six wins against players ranked in the top 20 in the world this season.

“I manage my emotions better, ” Cornet said.“ Maybe because I’m getting older, I’m more mature. It’s okay because I’m 32. I guess it’s better late than never. “

By HOWARD FENDRICH