EMMA RADUCANU was knocked out of the Australian Open by China’s Yafan Wang after bravely battling breathing issues that saw her have her blood pressure taken on court.
The 2021 US Open champion, 21, recovered from a slow start to force the match into a third-set decider – but ended up losing 6-4 4-6 6-4.
A grueling nine-minute game at the beginning of the final set led to the Brit having a medical timeout.
Her blood pressure was taken by doctors as she wrapped a towel around her while sitting in her seat.
But after the required precautions were completed, Raducanu headed back out on to the court.
She bravely went on to hold her serve and had chances to break back for 2-2, only for Wang to keep her nerve and take a 3-1 lead.
The Chinese player was then one game away from the third round as she led 5-3, but Raducanu showed huge heart to hold to love and keep the match alive.
However, World No94 Wang successfully served it out to clinch victory after a marathon match that ended just four minutes shy of the three-hour mark.
It was World No 296 Raducanu’s first Grand Slam since last year’s Australian Open as she spent a lengthy period sidelined following surgery on both hands and her ankle.
She impressed in the first round with a 6-3 6-2 victory over American Shelby Rogers.
Raducanu’s breathing issues come after fellow Brit Jack Draper was seen throwing up immediately after his first-round, five-set win earlier this week.
After shaking hands with opponent Marcos Giron, the 22-year-old showed how much the Melbourne heat had impacted him as he crouched over and hurled into a bin.
Meanwhile, Raducanu’s recovery from three surgeries in 13 days included some bizarre methods such as dunking her hands in a bucket of rice for 75 minutes.
This is a form of therapy for healing hands and wrists and helps to improve grip and forearm strength.
Speaking to one of her sponsors, Porsche, she said: “I have such high standards of myself. You need massive amounts of dedication.
“If you have that, that’s where you’re going to really go above and beyond.
“The exercises I love are pretty much all in the gym. You hate them at the time but after you do them, you love them because you feel unbelievable after.
“At one stage I was doing a lot of rice exercises, like hand in a bucket of rice, moving it around, and it was killing me.
“You’re just staring at the clock for the whole hour, like ‘get me out of here’. I don’t want to see rice again!
“I truly realise how much I really missed it [tennis]. How grateful I am to be on the court playing pain-free. It’s an amazing feeling. And I really think that I can achieve whatever I want to.”
