Tennis LIVE: Carlos Alcaraz snubbed as Cincinnati Open star retires despite huge lead

Emma Raducanu has shared some blunt early conversations with Francis Roig.

The British No. 1 says they have both agreed that all of her shots need to improve, particularly if she is to consistently challenge the likes of Aryna Sabalenka - her next Cincinnati Open opponent.

“It’s just, 'the level needs to be better'. In a good way, not in a negative way. It’s just calling it how it is," Raducanu said of her conversations with the Spaniard, who coached Rafael Nadal to each of his 22 Grand Slams.

"And I’m very like that. I’m very factual and I don’t necessarily like fluffing something up. I think that’s where we get on really well and we understand each other.

"Just in general, everything is like: ‘We need to improve. We need to get every shot better.’ And that’s exciting, because I feel like there’s a lot of potential to go and I don’t think I’m near it.

“You always feel a little bit of nerves before the first round, but I think that overall, I’m approaching everything in a lot more calm way, mature, and I think I’m trusting a lot more the work I’m doing behind the scenes. I know I’m putting a lot of hours in, and it takes some of the pressure off of the results.

“I think the way I’m playing, the movements of my shot, improving the quality of my shot. There were four or five points where I did something that we were working on, and it’s always really satisfying and rewarding when you hit a shot and you’ve worked on it in practice. So I think I’m going to improve a lot, hopefully doing the work day in, day out.”

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