Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina retired from their women’s doubles semifinal match against Taylor Townsend and Zhang Shuai at the Mubadala Citi DC Open. The duo trailed 1-4 after five games before retiring, but will continue their singles campaign at the tournament.
Health seems to have been an issue for the Briton as she was seen struggling with the heat during her singles quarterfinals match against Maria Sakkari, but ended up defeating her 6-4, 7-5 to book a place in the semifinal against Anna Kalinskaya. On the other hand, Rybakina ousted Magdalena Frech 6-3, 6-3 and will be playing Leylah Fernandez in the other semifinal.
However, fans were unhappy with their sudden withdrawal from doubles, with some attributing their retirement to their positive results in the singles matches. Some also called the pair out for their ‘lack of respect’.
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Here are some of the fan reactions:
"What a waste of a doubles slot…disgrace to the game. Why waste a slot if you’re not gonna play ??" wrote one fan.
"Retiring from doubles because you go further in singles than you thought, is one of the things that pisses me off about the “show players “playing in the doubles. They all do it all the time," posted another.
"Knew for a fact that Emma Raducanu was going to let Elena Rybakina down after her match against Sakkari. Interesting how Elena had less recovery time but was still willing to honor her doubles engagement," a fan stated.
"Forever happy that Jasmine Paolini never done anything like that no matter the situation, unless it was an injury ofc. I personally think it shows a lack of respect, it's just my opinion of course," another wrote.
"A lot of people do this but it tarnishes doubles these sort of withdrawals," opined a fan.
Emma Raducanu on struggling during her singles match
Emma Raducanu admitted to having a difficult time during her singles match at the Citi DC Open against Maria Sakkari. She appeared to be struggling with the heat and also had the medic come in to check her blood pressure during the match.
During the post-match interaction, she explained that the humidity became kind of overbearing after a point.
“It was one of the toughest matches conditions-wise I have ever played in. Those points in the second set, I was getting a bit wobbly. I think the humidity here, it just makes it feel completely like you have just opened an oven and it just stayed open and your head is in there," the 22-year-old said.
Raducanu will take on Anna Kaliskaya on the evening of July 26 for a heated semifinals clash.
