Emma Raducanu says she wants to play more matches before Grand Slam tournaments after losing to Sofia Kenin in the US Open first round.
Britain’s Raducanu, who lost 6-1 3-6 6-4, was searching for her first victory in New York since unexpectedly winning the title in 2021 as a teenage qualifier.
She fell in the first round in 2022 and missed last year’s tournament as she recovered from wrist and ankle surgery.
Raducanu played just one tournament between Wimbledon in July and the US Open, reaching the quarter-finals in Washington earlier this month.
The 21-year-old fought back tears in a news conference after her loss to fellow Grand Slam champion Kenin and said she felt “sad” and “down”.
She said she would “learn from it” and “manage my schedule slightly differently” for future Grand Slams.
“I would like to play more matches,” said Raducanu. “I wouldn’t probably still play every single tournament leading up, but I would probably play more than I did this time.
“It’s a lesson to learn for next year.”
Having opted to skip this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, Raducanu also missed WTA 1,000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati in the lead-up to the US Open.
Raducanu admitted afterwards that she lacked some match sharpness against Kenin.
“I got off to a bit of a slow start, but did really well to fight back in sets two and three and there wasn’t much in it,” Raducanu said.
“I think I worked my way into the match pretty well, but at this level you can’t really afford to have a slow start of the set and start from a set down.
“I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel really good, you feel like everything’s automatic.
“I can learn from it and manage my schedule slightly differently.”
After an injury-plagued 2023, Raducanu returned to the tour in January and reached the second round of the Australian Open.
She skipped the clay-court French Open to focus on being fit for the British grass season - a decision that seemed to have paid off when she made an impressive run to the Wimbledon fourth round.
“I think I’ve made progress considering where I was at the start of the year - I didn’t play for seven months,” the world number 71 added. “I had a month of December training after three surgeries so I think to climb back into the top 100 was a really good achievement.”
