Raducanu admits she was throwing up in her mouth during Australian Open defeat
Emma Raducanu has admitted she threw up in her mouth as she battled a sickness bug during her Australian Open defeat to Wang Yafan.
The 21-year-old was beaten 6-4 4-6 6-4 in her fourth match since returning to action from an eight month break due to injury. It was a momumental effort from the young Brit to take the match to a deciding set as she was forced to battle illness throughout.
Early in the third set, the 2021 US Open champion had to have her blood pressure checked by a doctor. She continued to scrap away during the three-hour contest, but ultimately her fitness failed as Wang took command late in the third set.
Raducanu did battle back from being two games to love down in the deciding set, at which point a doctor was brought in to examine her. The medic prescribed some tablets, with Raducanu opening up on the full extent of her illness after her defeat.
“Now I feel a little bit better. During the match, I'd say in the third set I was 30-Love up serving. Then all of a sudden, I just felt so sick, just really weak and nauseous. Throughout the third set I think everyone could see it was a bit of a battle," she said.
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“Like physically, body-wise, I felt fine. It was more that I was throwing up in my mouth. Then after the match, it came out. Now I'm okay. Yeah, I'll get over it. It just sucks with the timing. I felt good. I felt fine. Yeah, I just had a bit of a bug.
“Honestly I've been in that situation before in matches, whether it was with illness or injury, and retired a few times. I think, to be honest, with what I went through last year, you feel awful right now, at some points I couldn't really see the ball very well.
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Raducanu put up a brave fight but was eventually defeated by Wang (Julian Finney/Getty Images)"But I think with everything I went through last year, it's made me so much tougher. There was no way I was going to pull out. She was going to have to beat me, and she did. She served it out.
“I think the last year off and also just with the amount of niggles and everything that I had, the setbacks, it did make me a lot tougher.”
While the defeat was valiant, it means that Raducanu has still failed to progress beyond the second round of a Grand Slam since her US Open win. Despite that record, the 21-year-old is hoping for a successful season.
“I'm feeling very positive. I really just want to play a full season. The encouraging thing is, even though I played two back-to-back three-setters in Auckland, a three-setter today, body-wise, strength-wise, I didn't come up with any random niggles," she added.
"That just happened throughout the match. It was just me throwing up. That's fine. That's not normal, but it's like a one-off.”
Raducanu's defeat to Wang means there is no British player left in the women's singles draw. Katie Boulter had earlier lost to Zheng Qinwen, with male star Cameron Norrie now the only remaining British player left in either of the singles draws.
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