EMMA RADUCANU admits she was “throwing up in my mouth” as a stomach bug derailed her Australian Open campaign.
The weary Brit struggled to breathe at times as she battled hard for close to three hours before losing 6-4 4-6 6-4 to China’s Wang Yafan in the second round in Melbourne.
Emma Raducanu was battling illness during her second-round matchGetty
GettyShe later confirmed she was throwing up in her mouth during the match[/caption]
The 21-year-old felt under the weather pre-match and this illness proved her downfall despite gallantly winning the second set after being a break behind.
Feeling “weak and nauseous”, the former US Open champion had her blood pressure checked by a medic during the third set and took some pills before resuming.
Raducanu, who puked up post-match, said: “I think I just had a bit of a stomach bug beforehand.
“Now I feel a little bit better. I had some time.
“During the match, the third set I was 30-0 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.
“Like physically, body-wise, I felt fine. It was more I was throwing up in my mouth.
“Then after the match, it came out. Now I’m OK. I’ll get over it. It just sucks with the timing.
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“I was actually feeling good about my tennis. Mentally, I don’t know why, I just felt really composed the entire time.
“Even in the first set when I was making a ton of errors with the wind, I kind of always had this feeling that I was coming back, just tidy up the errors. I felt pretty composed throughout.”
Raducanu, playing just her fourth match in eight months, was determined to keep going and fight it out, particularly during a gruelling 65-minute second set.
She said: “I’ve been in that situation before in matches, whether it was with illness or injury, and retired a few times.
“With what I went through last year, you feel awful right now.
“At some points I couldn’t really see the ball very well, but I think 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.”
After an injury-hit 2023, Raducanu has high hopes for this year and will be encouraged by this trip Down Under, which included an event in New Zealand.
It has been the first period of time spent with new coach Nick Cavaday and the signs have been positive.
Her next appearance will be in the UAE for the Abu Dhabi Open in the first week of February.
The World No296 said: “There were doubts whether I would be able to make the Australian Open trip.
“I think that to be here is a bonus, a good starting point I would say, because I started putting good practice sessions together with Nick. We’re doing good work off the court.
“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.
“It was just me throwing up. That’s fine. That’s not normal, but it’s like a one-off.”