British tennis star Emma Raducanu thinks Rafael Nadal would be the perfect chair umpire since he is “really fair” and has “unbelievable sportsmanship.” Raducanu, 19, made her second appearance at the Indian Wells Masters.
The tournament hosted a question and answer session and Raducanu took part in it. “I’d say Rafael Nadal [would make the best chair umpire],” Raducanu said in a question and answer session hosted by the Indian Wells tournament.
“He is like really, really fair and has unbelievable sportsmanship.”
Raducanu suffered a surprise defeat
Raducanu, ranked at No. 13 in the world, had a first round bye in Indian Wells before beating Caroline Garcia in the second round.
Raducanu then had a favorable third round meeting but she was upset by Petra Martic. Martic, ranked at No. 79 in the world, surprised Raducanu 6-7 (3) 6-4 7-5. Raducanu was up by a set and a break but Martic won the second set to force a decider.
Raducanu broke Martic in the ninth game of the third set to take a 5-4 lead but then failed to serve out for the match in the following game. “I think it’s just part of not playing and having so much stop-start and having five, six days to prepare for matches and then playing at that intensity,” Raducanu told the BBC Sport.
“It was a tough one not being able to serve full out so I was having to work so hard just to hold. I’ve just got to get stronger. “I’ve had it for the last few days, just a product of training hard and probably the last match was pretty intense too and it didn’t settle down.
“When you are crossing your fingers to hold serve every time, it’s tough. I couldn’t really drive up and I was kind of struggling to turn and reach. The margins were so small. “I should be good for Miami, for sure”.
