Emma Raducanu shares gruesome picture of blisters that spoiled her Australian Open chances

Australian Open: Webster unimpressed by Raducanu's defeat

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Emma Raducanu has shown the first glimpse of the blisters which hampered her Australian Open chances last month. The Brit has been enjoying some downtime in Singapore after crashing out of her third career Grand Slam at the second-round stage. 

Despite her young age, British fans had high hopes for Raducanu going into Melbourne due to her rapid rise to prominence. 

Last year, she embarked on a blockbuster run to the Wimbledon round of 16 before blowing that achievement out of the water by producing a stunning US Open triumph. 

The teenager looked to be back to her old tricks when she saw off former world No.3 Sloane Stephens in the first round. 

But the three-set battle seemed to have taken its toll by the time Raducanu got underway in her second-round clash with Danka Kovinic. 

The 19-year-old took a medical time out in the first set, and despite winning the second with only her forehand slice to work with, Kovinic eventually prevailed. 

How the Brit would have fared without the blister is a topic of debate but a recent social media post revealed the scale of the damage. 

Raducanu shared a picture of her palms, with a painful-looking blister underneath the ring finger of her right hand. 

But with no Grand Slam slug-fests on the agenda in Singapore, it did not appear to be causing the same frustration that it had done in Melbourne. 

“Singapore!! We worked, got stuck in (literally..), enjoyed the great culture, improved and had so much fun here,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Thank you to everyone’s warm welcome, you made it even more special. I’ll be back!!”

After defeat to Kovinic, Raducanu revealed that blisters had been causing her problems since she had arrived in Australia. 

“Before the match there were people in my team who didn’t want me to play,” she said.

“I have been struggling with blisters since I started playing really in Australia because 21 days [with] no tennis [meant] my hands got pretty soft.

“This particular one has been with me for about five days and I have been trying to tape it for every practice, and it would harden and dry out, but then once I would play again, another layer would just keep ripping off.

“It ended up being pretty deep. It’s a bit annoying because I know it’s something that will heal in a few days, but it’s just unfortunate timing.”

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