Emma Raducanu was barely able to hold herself together at the press conference after her first-round exit at Roland Garros on Sunday. Those tears came not from loss alone, but from a helplessness against her multiple injury-riddled setbacks. With minimal preparation ahead of the French Open, she believed she could have a deeper run, but it did not come to be.

Raducanu lost 6-0, 7-6 to Argentina’s Solana Sierra, playing just her second match since March after spending two and a half months out with a post-viral illness. The first set lasted 24 minutes. The second had a glimmer of hope as the Brit fought back from 1-4 down to tie the game before dropping the set 7-4 in a tiebreak. It was her worst run in Roland Garros, where she made it to the second round in both of her previous visits, in 2022 and 2025.

When the reporter asked her what kind of state of mind it is to be coming back after injury after injury, at the young age of 23, she paused. “It’s very difficult for a professional tennis player to live with repeated injuries,” she said, her voice measured but her eyes saying something more. “I think you need a lot of resilience. I think I’m trying my best each day, and I think that’s all I can ask of myself,” Raducanu stated.

Since winning the US Open in 2021 as a qualifier without dropping a single set, Raducanu has dealt with wrist surgery, a stress fracture in her hand, ankle problems, and now a post-viral illness that wiped out the majority of her clay swing.

She reunited with her US Open-winning coach, Andrew Richardson, only earlier this week. This detail tells its own story about how unsettled things have been leading up to this tournament. 

Sunday’s defeat was her worst result in three appearances at Roland Garros. Her first set, 6-0, in which she recorded 15 unforced errors and no winners, was a sign of where the former world No. 10 is at now, two matches into a comeback from a lengthy layoff, on a surface she had almost no practice on. The second set revealed the true Raducanu, the one who fights back from a breakdown and refuses to go quietly. It just was not enough on the day. 

Sierra seizes her moment as Raducanu looks ahead to the grass with fresh resolve

A win over a Grand Slam winner on the main stage of a Major is what it takes to introduce a player to a larger audience for Solana Sierra. The 21-year-old Argentine is 68th in the world and has emerged as one of the most consistent clay court players outside the Top 50.

She took charge from the first game on Sunday, breaking Emma Raducanu’s serve early and never allowing the first set to become a contest. The bagel was finished in 24 minutes, but Sierra maintained her focus when it was most needed, finishing the tiebreak 7-4 to advance to the second round. She will either face the 13th seed Jasmine Paolini or Dayana Yastremska in the round of 64. 

Raducanu revealed she could not provide a full explanation of what went on in the first set.

“I went on the court, I felt like the conditions were extremely lively, and I felt like I wasn’t able to trust my shots and didn’t feel like I had control over the ball. Probably just a bit light on matches, a bit light on confidence coming into the tournament. The first set happened super quickly, and it’s not a nice feeling when the points and the games are going very, very fast,” she said.

She also addressed whether she regretted coming to Paris at all, given her physical state. “In hindsight, after the two matches I’ve played, it could have been nice to have saved yourself the match like today. But the only way to face and improve how I’m feeling is to go through the tough parts, to go through the pain of it, and hopefully come out on the other side better and stronger,” Raducanu added.  

A lingering cough from the post-viral illness that sidelined her for over two months was still bothering her during the match, aggravated by the clay dust blown up off the court. She is still not fully herself, and the scoreline reflects that more than it reflects where she stands as a player.

Raducani is no stranger to comebacks. Having missed the majority of 2023 after electing to have operations on both wrists and her left ankle, she returned strongly in 2024 at the Auckland Open. The setbacks returned in 2025 again, as she missed multiple tournaments.

Now Emma Raducanu is focused on the grass season. On June 8, the HSBC Championships start at Queen’s Club, followed by Wimbledon. Where she sees herself as the best fit with that pace and those angles on the surface.