Emma Raducanu admitted she needs to “get her head in the game” before Wimbledon after her exit from the Eastbourne tournament.
Raducanu was close to a spectacular comeback in her second-round match against Maya Joint but ultimately lost in a final-set tiebreak.
The 22-year-old revealed on Tuesday after her first-round victory that she had received “some not very good news,” which seemed to affect her performance against Joint – she appeared subdued on court.
With the home Grand Slam approaching, Raducanu stressed the importance of focus.
“Unfortunately, I couldn`t get over the line today, but I have time to rest before next week,” she said. “I feel quite tired. I`m going through some difficulties, and I need to make every effort to get my head in the game before next week.”
“In reality, the turnaround is very short – Wimbledon starts in just four days.”
“I think tomorrow (Thursday) I`ll just take a day off, and then hopefully I can get on the court on Friday.”
In her second-round battle against the Australian, the British No 1 looked defeated, trailing 5-2 in the deciding set.
However, she managed to play an impressive stretch, breaking Joint three times when she was serving for the match, leveling the score for a tiebreak.
Victory seemed within reach when she earned a mini-break to lead 4-3, but Joint won four consecutive points, securing a 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 victory and advancing to the quarter-finals.
Joint commented: “Today was very tough, a lot of ups and downs, but I`m happy I was able to tough it out in the end. I`m really glad I was able to win this match.”
Jodie Burrage became the second British female player in two days to miss match points and fail to defeat former Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova.
Twenty-four hours after Harriet Dart squandered victory, Burrage, the British No 7, was 0-40 up on the Czech`s serve at 6-5 in the deciding set but couldn`t close out the match, with Krejcikova winning the tiebreak.
In the men`s draw, Dan Evans continued to show improved form with a notable win over world No 13 Tommy Paul.
The 35-year-old is trying to return to the top after dropping in the rankings, and results like this will help him.
He eliminated the second seed with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and advanced to the quarter-finals against American Jenson Brooksby.
Lucky loser Billy Harris continued to take advantage of his reprieve, winning 6-3, 6-4 against Mattia Bellucci, but British No 2 Jacob Fearnley was eliminated, losing 6-3, 6-1 to Marcos Giron.
