Australian Open 2026: Emma Raducanu loses in second round – what went wrong?

Raducanu made encouraging progress last year, breaking back into the world top 30 and playing more matches than in previous seasons.

The defeat means he has only advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam once since his stunning US Open victory in the junior qualifiers in 2021.

However, his planned off-season technical work with coach Francisco Roig, who helped Rafael Nadal win 16 of his 22 major championships, was disrupted by a foot injury.

When Raducanu returned in 2026, a change to his forehand (a higher and longer takeback designed to add more spin) was evident.

However, there seemed to be a lack of confidence in her shooting against Potapova; He landed 70% of his forehand shots (versus his opponent’s 96%) and made 19 unforced errors on that wing.

“I want to play in a different way. The mismatch between how I play now and how I want to play is something I want to work on,” Raducanu said.

There were mistakes in every aspect of Raducanu’s game against Potapova, and the Briton later said she did not feel “very good” from the start.

He gave a subdued performance. Although he appeared to lack confidence in his shots, his mood was flat and he rarely interacted with the support box or the crowd.

It was the first time Raducanu lost to a lower-ranked player at a major since the 2022 US Open, when he was still ranked 11th in the world.

“I just want to hit the ball into the corners and hit it hard. I feel like I’m doing all this variety and it’s not doing what I want,” he added.

“I need to try to play more similar to how I played when I was younger.”