By The words that Keothavong kept coming back to in commentary were “tired” and “fatigued”. Wednesday’s match was Raducanu’s first in Madrid but her sixth in 12 days since she began her clay-court swing in Le Portel. This might not sound like an overwhelming tally, but Raducanu remains physically undercooked by the standards of her rivals.
“I’m going to recharge a bit. From the performance today it was very clear that mentally and emotionally, I was exhausted. It’s a shame, but I guess the sport is just pretty brutal,” Raducanu said.
The comparison with her opponent is an interesting one, for Carle – a workmanlike player with a milk-float of a second serve – has got through more than 70 matches in each of the last three seasons. Admittedly, these matches have almost exclusively taken place on the second-tier ITF circuit. But Carle is still a hardened competitor with miles in her legs.
If we then turn to Raducanu, her top level is clearly on a different plane to Carle’s, yet she has played just 66 matches in the two-and-a-half years since she won the US Open. She has yet to show that she can handle the relentlessness of the WTA Tour.
We could have deduced that this was going to be a match to forget when Raducanu opened by losing the first seven points, all to unforced errors. There were four wayward forehands, one loose backhand, and two double-faults. This alarming start established a pattern of sub-standard service games that saw her hold serve only twice in eight attempts.
