Illness, injuries don't slow Emma Raducanu in first-round win at Indian Wells

As Emma Raducanu walked off Stadium 1 after an impressive 6-2, 6-3 win over Danka Kovinic on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open, strains of the Selena Gomez song "Walk Like a Champion" filled the arena.

Since bursting on the scene by winning the 2021 U.S. Open, Raducanu has not taken a lot of champion's steps. Nagging injuries have slowed her in the year and a half since. She had risen as high as No. 10 in the world, but entered this year's BNP Paribas Open at No. 77.

Thursday was her first match since losing in the second round of the Australian Open in January. The 20-year-old had to pull out of tournaments in between due to balky wrists and also tonsillitis.

"They're manageable," Raducanu said Thursday after the match referring to her various dings and dents and sore tonsils. "I'm not 100% but you never really are. I've just been trying to short-term manage it as much as possible. Just trying to get through the tournament and reevaluate after."

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Next up for Raducanu is a Saturday date with Magda Linette, a talented Polish player who is seeded No. 20 at this event and made the semifinals at the Australian Open.

Raducanu was happy to pick up a win Thursday as she had lost to Kovinic, from the small country of Montenegro, in their most recent matchup when Kovinic knocked her out of the 2022 Australian Open in the second round. It was a frustrating loss in her follow-up Slam to her magical run at the 2021 U.S. Open.

"I know last time was a real battle it was three sets and today I was just like I'm going to be aggressive," Raducanu said. "I took some things of what worked last time and really tried to dominate where I could."

It was an unusual match in that in both sets Raducanu fell behind 2-0 only to win 12 of the other 13 games. She rattled off six straight to grab the first set and six of seven to complete the match.

She said having some adversity helped in a way.

"I just love competing even when (things are) against you and fighting through it," Raducanu said referring to both her opponent and her injuries and illnesses. "Having something that you are going through gives you something, more incentive to be aggressive to really cling on to and use. I think I found a way to use it as much as I can."

Raducanu said another strategic decision she made that has helped her out in the lead-up to Indian Wells is giving social media a rest. She realized it's impossible to make everyone happy.

"After AO (Australian Open) I deleted WhatsApp and Instagram off my phone and after that, I've been living under my own little rock," she said. "I felt like sometimes you go through patches where you just want to zone in on yourself and I was very content with my life without it. I've learned regardless of what you do, if you do good, if you do bad, people are going to come at you regardless."

If she plays like she did Thursday the rest of the tournament, she may want to jump back onto social media ... for a little bit at least.

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Emma Raducanu guts out opening-round win at Indian Wells