Emma Raducanu lost in the first round of the 2025 Indian Wells Open, but she didn’t want to blame her incident with a stalker in Dubai for the loss.
Raducanu didn’t play a good match against Moyuka Uchijima. The Japanese player beat her quite convincingly, 6-3, 6-2, with the Brit struggling mostly on her serve.
The 2021 US Open champion faced break points in seven out of her eight service games in the match, which didn’t help her build some momentum. She almost always had to defend herself against the chance of being broken.
It was a surprising loss, given how well Raducanu played in Dubai, and during her post-match press conference, she struggled to identify the reasons for her defeat. The 22-year-old player expressed her desire to be aggressive, but it didn’t translate into success on the court.
“I think it was just a very difficult match for me. I think it was tough conditions, difficult ball from my opponent. I mean, I tried to be aggressive, I tried to make the ball. But I guess it didn’t work today.”
Raducanu arrived in Indian Wells after dealing with a stalker incident at the Dubai Championships. She admitted she considered not coming to the United States following the incident.
However, after her loss to Uchijima, the 2021 US Open champion chose not to find excuses. She stated that the incident in Dubai had no influence on her performance and acknowledged that she might not have prepared adequately for the tournament.
“I didn’t have what happened in Dubai in my head at all today. I think, if anything, like a bit of a lack of preparation on the tennis court, playing someone who played pretty good in these conditions, I mean, extremely awkward in the wind here.”
“But I think it depends what sorts of frame of mind you’re in. I think all the players will say, you know, if they’re feeling good, like, it’s great. If they’re not, like, it can be more difficult and challenging. You have to just overcome whatever hurdles that come your way and just keep going forward.”
After such a loss, Raducanu recognized the need to return to the practice court and work on her game. She emphasized the importance of improving how she starts rallies, particularly her serve, which was a struggle in Indian Wells.
“Yeah, I think I’ll need to improve starting the point. I think that’s a big part of tennis. I think I can do that a lot better. I think I could improve, I guess, being more aggressive and, like, having a better quality of shot going forward into the court more. I think I could improve every area of my game, to be honest (smiling), after today’s performance. But yeah, I think everything, to be honest.”
