Despite loss, Raducanu learning to play with freedom again

MASON, Ohio -- Emma Raducanu's debut at the Western & Southern Open was a memorable one. The 19-year-old US Open champion posted a stellar set of back-to-back results, beating Serena Williams 6-4, 6-0 and Victoria Azarenka 6-0, 6-2. On Thursday night she bowed out to World No.8 Jessica Pegula 7-5, 6-4 in the Round of 16, bested by one of the in-form players on the Hologic WTA Tour. 

Three takeaways: Pegula beats Raducanu to make Cincinnati quarters

But Raducanu heads to New York with a new mindset and a renewed game plan that revolves around a singular idea: it's time to go on the attack. 

In her own words, here are five things we learned about Raducanu in Cincinnati:

She's learning (again) that it's OK to miss

"In the past year, I think it's probably the first tournament or one of the few tournaments that I have actually started going for my shots more. I think that recently I was kind of playing and hoping they would miss, and I think I was pushing the ball around a lot more. 

"This week I kind of just was like, 'Look, I'm just going to try. I don't care if I make errors, it's fine,' but I'm just going to like overhit if anything."

She's learning how to endure the physical and mental strain of tournament play

"To play back-to-back days between the first and second, it was pretty quick turnover. I think that it's difficult as well to stay mentally focused, to keep mentally just going back out there and backing the performances up.

"I think that's something, to be honest, I don't think I have experienced much of, because I haven't had many consistent weeks of a lot of matches in a row. It was great to get three matches this week, and in D.C., as well."

She's done getting pushed around the court

"I kind of just got tired of pushing the ball around and having people hit the ball and they'd run me around. I was just, like, 'Look, I have tried that for pretty much a year.' If I'm going to lose, I'm probably going to lose anyway pushing the ball around at this level. It just doesn't work. I'm just going to do it and give this tournament a swing. And it worked.

"I think that it is definitely relieving because I feel like I'm swinging with the same sort of freedom as I probably had, more similar to last year. So it feels really good. I think that I can really take it as a positive week, and I actually feel like I'm heading in a good direction again."

She's still learning what kind of player she wants to be

"I think I do each of the aspects pretty well, separated. But I just need to put them together. For example, some weeks I have served really, really well. I think over the clay in the beginning I served really well. Then like some weeks, I don't know, it would just disappear and then I will become more of a defensive player. Then I will become more of an attacking player. 

"So I think I am still trying to find the balance and just trying to package my game together more so. But like I said, every match at this level I figure out what works, what doesn't work, how I should be hitting the ball. I feel more confident in what I'm doing now."

A year on, she has a different view of her US Open victory

"I think that at the US Open I played really good tennis. I was swinging with the freedom that I started to tap into this week. And I did really enjoy this week, like if I made an error, it was almost like a positive thing, like, 'Good, you are going for it.' It paid off a lot more than it didn't.

"But I also think, honestly, that my opponents have been playing a lot better this year. I'm re-watching my matches from the US Open and there are certain moments where I was given a lot of gifts or maybe they got a bit tight or something like that.

"So I think I have improved actually as a player. As I'm finding this sort of freedom in my swinging, I think that I achieved something great, of course, but I was playing completely free and I'm starting to do that again."