Wimbledon 2022 – Barbara Schett ‘very impressed’ with Emma Raducanu’s first-round win against Alison Van Uytvanck

Raducanu wasn’t at her fluent best but played plenty of impressive tennis after a difficult few months.

Speaking after the game Schett was full of praise for Raducanu when considering the pressure she is under at the moment.

“I was very impressed with the win of Emma Raducanu today, a very tricky first-round opponent in Alison van Uytvanck who has already won a title on grass.

“We know Emma hasn’t played a lot of tennis, she was injured, she had that side strain and all the pressure in the world was on her. We remember last year she reached the fourth round and it wasn’t expected at all.

“I thought she handled herself extremely well on the court, of course tennis-wise we know she can play better tennis we have seen the better tennis but she found solutions today against Alison and I think this victory can bring her very far at this Wimbledon.

“There’s a lot of pressure on Emma Raducanu, I think everybody has been talking about Wimbledon for weeks now. It was great to see the way she handled herself out on the court. She gets a lot of support from the crowd but she wants to show her best side.

“In the first set against Van Uytvanck she was a little bit nervous, still a little bit tired but in the second set you could see she felt a little more comfortable. I think that the more matches she plays at Wimbledon the more relaxed she’s going to feel.

“The key for her, I think for Emma, is just to focus on herself, not read any newspapers, not do too many activities around the tournament and pretty much just stay in the present and focus on herself.”

In the second round Raducanu will face the experienced Caroline Garcia and Schett believes it will be a tricky clash for the Brit but one she is more than capable of coming through.

“It’s a tricky one, that match against Caroline Garcia as we know she just won a title and played some of her best tennis, that’s what she said there.

“So Garcia, she serves very aggressively, she likes to come to the net so Emma Raducanu is going to have to adapt. She’s going to have to serve well, in that last match against Alison van Uytvanck it was a little slow, she can be more accurate too. But the crowd is going to be behind Emma Raducanu and if she is playing at a high level she can pretty much beat anyone.”

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