Emma Raducanu: The British woman enjoys the clash with Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open | Tennis news
Emma Raducanu believes she has “nothing to lose” as she prepares to face former world number one Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open.
Raducanu overcame back problems and defeated the great Amanda Anisimova 6-3 7-5 to reach the last 32 for the first time in Melbourne.
The 22-year-old returned to the third round of a hard-court Grand Slam for the first time since winning the 2021 US Open.
“I love it. It’s another chance to test my game,” Raducanu said ahead of her clash with world No. 2 Swiatek on Saturday.
“I think it obviously is [Swiatek] I have already achieved so much and I think I have nothing to lose by entering it. I’ll just rock. I will do my best and I can’t wait to play in front of you.
“She’s a top player, she’s been really consistent over the last few years. So it’s going to be a match for me where I feel like I don’t have a lot of expectations from the outside.
“I think you always have the pressure you put on yourself to do your best, which isn’t really going to change, but that’s every game.
“I’m looking forward to going out there and testing my game against the best because, at the end of the day, you play tennis and you live for these matches. It’s going to be a big adrenaline rush.”
Raducanu stressed that she will take a relaxed approach to preparations for her meeting with the Pole, who wasted little time beating Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova 6-0 6-2 on Thursday.
Swiatek will be the highest-ranked player Raducanu has ever faced at a Grand Slam, and she has yet to win a set in three meetings with her.
“I think I’ll probably just take it easy [on Friday]”, she said. “I’ll probably have a light stroke. Nothing crazy.
“I played a lot of tennis today and two days ago, so I don’t think I need to overdo it on the practice court. Just to keep my body a little bit and really recover.”
Swiatek is 59 places above Raducanu in the world rankings, but he said: “There’s no point in looking at the rankings, especially when you have these great players who have already been through great tournaments and won some tournaments.
– You know they can play well.
Watch the ATP and WTA Tours, as well as the US Open, live on Sky Sports in 2025 or stream with NOW and The Sky Sports app.
