Emma Raducanu quietly accepted her US Open dethroning as Alize Cornet produced a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of the British defending champion on Tuesday.
The 19-year-old who claimed the Grand Slam honours from a qualifying start here in 2021, was brought back down to earth by the experienced Frenchwoman from Nice ranked 40th.
“It was a pretty tough match against a really experienced player,” Raducanu said. “Obviously I’m disappointed to lose in the first round.
“But credit to Alize, she played pretty well.”
Raducanu said she is looking at her loss as a way to re-set her career which went from zero to 100 in a fortnight a year ago.
“I’m sad to sad to leave here. It’s probably my favourite tournament,” said the player who will take her time in deciding about the future of her coaching experiment with former ATP player Dmitry Tursunov.
“In a way I’m happy because it’s a clean slate. I’m going to drop down the rankings… climb my way back up.”
She added; “This is the target off my back slightly. I just have another chance to claw my way back up there.”
