Emma Raducanu shares her feelings on how fans disregard her..

Over the past few years, the sight of Iga Swiatek annihilating another poor, defenceless opponent has become as sure as the sun will rise. When her game is flowing and her mind is clear, the combined quality of her violent ball-striking, athleticism and unrelenting focus is so great that, at some point or another, she has rendered nearly all of the best players spectators in their own matches.

Understandably, Raducanu looked out of ideas from early on. When she tried to force herself on to the front foot, injecting pace into her groundstrokes and aiming for the lines, her error count rose quickly. At the same time, when she tried to patiently build points, Swiatek completely outhit her. The performance was simply a reflection of the limitations in her game compared with a player who is on the path to becoming an all-time great.

Although her tournament ended with a heavy defeat, Raducanu leaves having made progress with two good wins over solid opponents. She is clearly playing top 30-level tennis when she is able to compete and she has a solid base to work from. The real challenge is remaining fit enough to consistently build on her progress throughout the long season ahead.

The biggest positive I would say is how I’ve approached every single day,” she said. “Before the tournament, in tricky situations with [pulling out of] Auckland and the back, how I handled myself going into the tournament not necessarily the most prepared. Then I’d say even how I handled the match, it’s quite different and I have to be proud of myself and give myself a pat on the back.

“One of my goals for this year is to just be consistent, ride with it. Today is going to be a really good test, but also I’m going to look back and be like I learned a lot from it and got a lot of feedback on what I need to do better.”