Emma Raducanu Confesses Biggest Mistake Against Elena Rybakina After US Open Exit

Emma Raducanu entered the third round of the US Open, overcoming a crisis of the last three years. To underline her hard work, she wished to win against an elite player like her opponent, Elena Rybakina. However, the Kazakhstani gave her a reality check from her first serve itself. At times, you could feel that Raducanu forcing Rybakina to move throughout the court could give her some opening, but world No. 9’s speed got the better of her. In 62 minutes, the Brit lost the match 6-1, 6-2. After the game, Raducanu had time to analyze what could’ve been better yesterday.

In the post-match presser shared by the US Open Tennis Championships’ channel yesterday, Raducanu broke down her performance. She plainly confessed to how working with new coach Francisco Roig can help. She said,  “It’s only been three weeks, but there are certain parts of my game that have gone better for sure. Today, my weaknesses were highlighted. But I think it’s only been three weeks, and he can’t really work miracles. So, I know we’re doing good work, and I just look forward to continuing.”

Playing against the best in the circuit can do that. Emma Raducanu, for one, has continuously faced off against the top players. Rybakina is a big hitter who brings power and precision to the court, and Raducanu knows that. She talked about her opponent, saying, “When you’re playing Elena, she has a great serve, of course. Second serve coming in quick and high as well. Return comes back faster, like you’ve barely landed from your serve, and it’s back on the baseline.”

She further spoke about her difficulty in coping with Rybakina’s quality return game. “The ball just comes through really, really fast. You feel like you just don’t really have any time to create anything. So it’s just constant pressure. I think when, you know, you feel in that way, a shorter ball or a ball that is usually normal for you, you feel more pressure to kind of execute, and then that’s when you maybe make some errors that you don’t. I think that’s probably the biggest tell.” Well, errors she made, see for yourself:

While the Brit had a better first serve percent in, she could not bank on them as much. She also didn’t have any double faults, but her shots were still not good enough. Rybakina hit 23 winners to Raducanu’s 8. The total points won were skewed in favor of Rybakina, 56 to 35. As Emma Raducanu admitted, Elena Rybakina brought her top game to the 3rd round clash. Now, Raducanu goes back to the drawing board with his new coach with one objective.

Emma Raducanu’s plans with former Rafael Nadal coach

57-year-old Francisco Roig came on board Raducanu’s team just before Cincinnati. Her 2025 season had been a stark improvement over the previous years. With quarter-final runs in Miami and the HSBC Championships in London and reaching the R16 in Rome, she did show improvement under previous coach Mark Petchey. But his commentary commitments made arrangement with Raducanu a temporary one.

Well, it would also be a bit of a concern that her link-up with Roig is reportedly not long-term, as he is only supposed to guide her till the end of this season. With him, there has been a marked improvement in her game. In Cincinnati, she made short work of Olga Danilovic and managed to push world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to her limit with Roig, who brings his own excellence to the table.

First of all, Francisco Roig was in Rafael Nadal’s corner when the Spaniard won his Grand Slams. All 22 of them, and Roig was there, perfecting Nadal’s game and adding his expert diagnosis. Now, he has to do his magic on Raducanu.

A guy known for perfecting the technical side of the game would make Raducanu a better player in the long run. And he has already started doing that, while keeping it fun and relaxed on the court. What stood out the most was his steering Raducanu away from chasing perfection. That got her playing with a lot of clarity and freedom.

And the big objective for now is top-10. “I think to really take a step to be beating or making it close with the top ten consistently, I need to be doing the things I’m doing with Francis now and I think he can really help get me towards that,” Raducanu said. “We’ve only had a few weeks together, so I don’t know if it will come this week, but I do believe that over time we will get there.”

Well, it’s a good thing Elena Rybakina brought her top game. Emma Raducanu now knows what distance she has to cover to reclaim the Grand Slam glory she made when she was just 18 at the US Open. For now, stay updated with the latest twists and turns from the Flushing Meadows with EssentiallySports’ minute-by-minute live blog.