Emma Raducanu has questioned the logic of staging women’s matches at the very end of the day after learning when she will play her first match at the Australian Open.
The former US Open champion will begin her bid on Sunday against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, who entered the event with the use of her protected ranking of No.100. Their clash is scheduled to be the second night match on the Margaret Court Arena. Proceedings will start no earlier than 7 pm local time, with Alexander Bublik taking on Jenson Brooksby, followed by Raducanu. As a result, there is a high chance she will not be playing until 10pm or later.
“I think it’s very difficult to be scheduling women’s matches after a potential five-set match. To me, it doesn’t really make as much sense,” Raducanu told reporters in Melbourne.
“I think after seeing it, the initial reaction is probably, like, oh, it’s a late one. Then you deal with it, and you try and shift your day.
“It’s a new experience, something that I need to learn to do. Hopefully, if I’m playing this game for a long time, I’ll probably be in this situation again, so it’s a good learning step to try and adjust and deal with that day, as well.”
Raducanu isn’t the only player to be handed the final match slot on the women’s Tour, with Venus Williams’ clash against Olga Danilovic last on the John Cain Arena. However, the night session on this court starts two hours earlier than the tournament’s two premier courts.
Another challenge for the Brit is trying to adjust to Melbourne Park as quickly as possible. After opting to play at the Hobart International last week, where she lost in the quarter-finals, Saturday is her first day in the city this year.
“You would love to have more time in the environment, more time practicing, but I guess I was pretty much handed the schedule to try and turn it around and make the most out of what is in front of me,” she commented.
“I think it’s easy to get down and complain about it, but it’s not going to help. So I’m just trying to focus and turn it around.”
Despite the short turnaround, Raducanu conceded that she needs to make adjustments to her forehand after a member of the media pointed out that it looked ‘bigger and higher.’
“It’s not something that I really wanted to happen, so I need to kind of look at that and shorten it, because I feel like it’s good in certain conditions when it’s a little bit slower. But on these very quick courts, it doesn’t really work, so I need to adjust that,” she said.
This year will be Raducanu’s fifth main draw appearance at the Australian Open. 12 months ago, she produced her best run at the Grand Slam by reaching the third round before losing to Iga Swiatek. This time round, she is on a collision course with top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the third round.
