Melbourne, Jan 17 (IANS) Emma Raducanu has questioned the Australian Open scheduling, which forced her to hurriedly prepare for the major, as she arrived here on Saturday with her opening round game slated for Sunday.

The British No. 1 reached Melbourne on Friday after concluding the quarter-finals of the Hobart International. She will begin her campaign here on Sunday against the relatively unknown Thai player Mananchaya Sawangkaew.

She has been scheduled for opening day and assigned the second night session at Margaret Court Arena, following a men’s match starting at 7 pm local time, which could result in a very late start.

“It’s very difficult. You would love to have more time in the environment, more time practising, but I guess I was pretty much handed the schedule to try and turn it around and make the most out of what is in front of me,” Raducanu, who was planning to have her first practice at 9 pm on Saturday, was quoted by Sky Sports.

“I think it’s easy to get down and complain about it, but it’s not going to help. So I’m just trying to focus and turn it around for tomorrow. It’s very difficult to be scheduling women’s matches after a potential five-set match. To me, it doesn’t really make as much sense,” she said.

“Today I’m going to practise and see what it’s like. I don’t think I have been in that situation. Only once before maybe when I played the semis of the US Open. I played second night match but, other than that, I haven’t played that late. So, for me, it’s a new experience, something that I need to learn to do,” she added.

Raducanu, who is 23, would face a tough situation even if she began the season strongly. However, she has encountered physical issues again during pre-season, especially a foot injury that has greatly limited her time on the court.

She was not at her usual best in her United Cup encounter with Maria Sakkari last week. Although she beat Camila Osorio in the opening round in Hobart before getting a walkover against Magdalena Frech, Raducanu later suffered a defeat to the lower-ranked Australian, Taylah Preston.

Speaking of her foot issue, the WTA No. 29 said, “It’s definitely a lot better. I’ve been having to manage it for the last few months but I’m really happy with the progress that I’ve made this year. I came out to Australia not knowing how it would go and now I’m in a much better place and just improving day by day.”

“I could easily get frustrated about not having the pre-season I wanted. I think it would only frustrate me. After last year being my first real year on tour, I really learned that the season is so long. I just want to try and work my way into this year. Obviously, I want this week to go well but I know that I’m working on the right things and it will slot into place at some point,” she added.

“I started training very late tennis-wise. So, because of that, I feel like I need to kind of take the pressure off myself and not put too much pressure on and expect to be playing amazing tennis,” Raducanu stated.

Although Sawangkaew is ranked at 195 and is making her Grand Slam debut, she should not be considered a major threat on paper, yet she has already won a lower-level title this season.

“I think it’s a tricky one because, playing a lot of matches, even if it’s at ITF level, and getting a lot of wins, it does so much. I think it’s a very dangerous opponent, a very dangerous situation to be in. You don’t know that much about them, so there is that element of surprise, too,” said Raducanu.

--IANS

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