Raducanu is 'Really Motivated' after Loss to Sabalenka at Wimbledon

Confidence

Nevertheless, the home crowd cheered for Raducanu as her Wimbledon campaign and grass court season ended. During her post-match press conference, Raducanu was still visibly upset about how she failed to execute, but still saw the silver lining in her performance.

The moderator started the session off by complimenting Raducanu's performance, to which the 22-year-old said, "I think it's difficult to see that right now, having just come off. It's hard to take a loss like that. At the same time, I'm playing Aryna, who's No. 1 in the world and a great champion. I have to be proud of my effort today."

When asked if she was on the right track, Raducanu answered, "Yeah, it does. It does give me confidence. I think the problem before was I felt like I was gulfs away from the very top. Having a match like that, where I had chances in both sets, does give me confidence. At the same time, it's very difficult to take right now."

Coaching and Hard Court Season

Raducanu punted on questions about the future of coach Mark Petchey, who had only committed through grass court season. Additionally, she acknowledged the challenge of switching to hard courts for the upcoming North American swing of the WTA Tour.

However, Raducanu warmed up as the questions continued. When asked how she processed the match and if she planned on watching the match, Raducanu joked, "First thing I did, I had a Kit Kat in the changing room."

Motivated

She proceeded to say, "I'll probably find it tough to sleep tonight, or I'll be so exhausted and crash. But I don't know, it's going take me a few days to process. At the same time, it really motivates me, and it could be a good thing that I'm like, 'Ok, I wanna get straight back to work,' pretty much."

"Because it's not far, but there are still a lot of things I want to do better. A lot of things I want to improve to really solidify my game, so in the big moments I can back myself a little bit more. But I think in due course I'll watch it back."

Back Injury

The last question of the presser was about her ongoing back injury. Raducanu said, "I think it got better throughout the tournament. I did a lot of work on it, and I'm happy it was kind of holding up because in Eastbourne, it was kind of getting worse.

Then, before the tournament, it was still quite stiff, and then today I actually felt pretty good on it. I've been getting a lot of work on it, I've been doing the right things off the court. It shows me being semi-professional kind of works sometimes," concluded Raducanu with a grin.

Raducanu falls to 18-14 on the season. Meanwhile, Sabalenka will face Elise Mertens in the fourth round on Sunday, July 6.

Wimbledon continues play through July 13.