Emma Raducanu apologised as she narrowly avoided punishment for breaking the rules during her third-round Italian Open match. The Brit stormed back after losing a close first set 7-5 to Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday afternoon, racing through the second set to take it 6-0.
She immediately walked towards the baseline to speak with her team, coach Mark Petchey and ‘big sister’ figure and mentor Jane O’Donoghue. But the chair umpire called her back to the bench, as players are not allowed to have an extended chat with their coaches unless there is a break in play for a medical time-out.
Raducanu had already been given the opportunity to discuss things with Petchey and O’Donoghue when Kudermetova received treatment from the physio off the court at 5-0 in the second set.
She wanted some more advice after forcing a deciding set, and could be seen in discussions with her camp immediately after closing out the bagel. But the umpire had to ask her to stop.
“Well, what’s happening here? Raducanu being called by the umpire,” Sky Sports’ Jonathan Overend said on commentary.
“She went straight over to her coaching team and the umpire saying that she does need to take her seat.
“You can do that during a medical time-out, but not during a regular change of ends. Apology from Raducanu there.”
The world No. 49 quickly obliged and said sorry as she sat on her bench for the end-of-set changeover, discussing the matter with the umpire.
It had no bearing on the match, however, as Raducanu immediately broke Kudermetova’s serve when they got back up to start the third and final set.
Petchey and O’Donoghue continued to encourage the 22-year-old from her box, as brief coaching is permitted while a player is on the end of the court closest to their team, and whatever they said did the trick.
Kudermetova finally snapped Raducanu’s eight-game winning streak, getting on the board at 1-2. It was her first game in an hour and 10 minutes, but she was still in serious danger.
The former world No. 9 hadn’t been the same after blowing a 40-15 lead in her first service game of the second set, and she needed an off-court medical time-out for what appeared to be a back issue.
