Emma Raducanu frustrated by racquet issues in Wimbledon loss to Aryna Sabalenka

LONDON (AP)—Emma Raducanu expressed frustration with having to get a couple of her rackets re-strung during her third-round loss to top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon on Friday.

The British player let leads slip in both sets of her 7-6 (6), 6-4 loss at Centre Court with the retractable roof closed.

"I felt like the ball was flying. I had all my rackets strung up fresh for the match, and it just felt like it was pinging completely different," Raducanu said. "It could have been a little bit because the roof was on. I sent a couple rackets to be re-strung.

"But it takes, like, 20 minutes by the time they turn it over. Still, it was a bit difficult. So I'm frustrated with that part maybe, small details. But I don't think I could have made different choices. I think I should have just executed better."

Sabalenka agreed "the balls were flying more," she suspected, because of higher humidity with the roof closed.

The three-time Grand Slam champion said her team typically has extra rackets ready.

"They always have like two extra rackets with the higher tension and two extra rackets with lower tension. They prepare it. You don't have to wait for another racket," Sabalenka said.

Sabalenka said she lost in the 2023 French Open semifinals to Karolina Muchova "because I didn't have racket" with the right tension.

"We weren't prepared. I didn't have a right tension. I had to play with a lower tension. I didn't control the ball, didn't feel well," she said.

"After that experience," she continued, "we learned it's four extra rackets in my team's bag just in case. You never know. You can wake up and feel great with one tension. Another day you wake up and you don't feel at all. You got to be prepared."