By Alberto Amalfi | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Emma Raducanu is departing the desert and heading home to the practice court.

In the aftermath of her 6-0, 7-6(6) loss to Anhelina Kalinina in her Qatar Open opener, wild card Raducanu said she will skip next week's Dubai Duty Free Championships to return home and train.

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"I just struggled with the timing of the ball to be honest. I think it's going to come with more time, practicing as well as matches," Raducanu told Sky Sports Tennis. "I think it's going to come with time, practicing and its hard for me to get used to just the tour schedule, it's just like: tournament, back, tournament just straight away."

The 2021 US Open champion, who fell to 3-4 on the season, said she needs practice repetition to fully regain her timing after an injury-shortened 2023 season.

"So "I think that I need to schedule my tournaments a bit better as well as just trying to get some more matches under my belt," Raducanu told Sky Sports Tennis. "I think that I'm just going to go home and practice and we'll see where it goes from there."

Photo credi: Dave Rowland/Getty