Emma Raducanu has revealed that she considered skipping the Australian Open altogether after her pre-season preparations were derailed by a foot injury. The No. 28 seed headed Down Under at the beginning of January, playing one match at the United Cup and two in Hobart before entering the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Raducanu suffered a surprise straight-set defeat to world No. 55 Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday, and admitted that she had to be “pragmatic” after questioning whether she would even make the trip to Australia to compete. “I don’t want to give myself too much of a hard time, because I know my preparation going into this tournament,” the British No. 1 said about bowing out in round two.

“I kind of have to leave with my head held high because of the matches I’ve had here. I didn’t even know at the beginning if I would be coming to Australia, so it’s a positive in that sense.

I think, you know, playing at different times is also another challenge. You know, playing at night compared to day, the conditions are very different. Yeah, just hadn’t really played in these kind of conditions in a minute, so didn’t deal with it very well today.”

When Raducanu landed in Australia at the beginning of the year, she had yet to play any real practice points, and her pre-season training consisted mostly of gym work and some static hitting. Despite her 7-6(3) 6-2 loss to Potapova, the Brit will take the positives as she leaves Melbourne.

She continued: “I would say 1st of Jan when I came out here, I hadn’t moved, I hadn’t even done a two-cross, one-line drill. I hadn’t moved from my half of the court. So if you would have told me I would have played, you know, four matches, five matches in Australia regardless of how they went, I think from a physical perspective, it would have been, you know, like, pretty surprising.

“I think with each one I did get better, except today, but I think having to learn and having to get the feel through matches is something that’s really difficult and not something that I really want to be doing. But, I mean, because it’s a Grand Slam, you feel like you can’t or you don’t want to miss out.

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“So I don’t regret the decision, because I got to come and play a slam here. Even if I wasn’t very ready, I think I had a good three weeks Down Under on and off the court. I just, yeah, need to take it for what it is, be pragmatic, and go back and keep working. The season is still quite long, so hopefully, if I stay healthy, do the right things, then it will start falling into place.”

Raducanu suffered from light bone bruising in her right foot during the off-season, and admitted it had been a “steep ramp-up” into competition. She added: “I’ve been managing it each day. It’s not 100 per cent, but I’ve made peace with that. It will be good to kind of get everything rechecked once this is – well, now it’s over – and just see how it is and whether I need to offload it a little bit or not.

“Physically, I think I’ve actually improved in the last few weeks, even if I’ve been playing more and my load has gone up, which is a positive. Considering how it was going at the end of last year, I really didn’t know if I was going to come to Australia. So to be feeling this way after five matches physically, it’s a positive.”

The world No. 29 is now expected to compete in the WTA 250 event in Cluj in early February. But her biggest focus is to find her “identity” on the court. “I don’t think I’m going to get straight back on the practice court. I think I’m going to take a few days, get back, get back home, and try and just re-evaluate my game a bit,” she said.

“Right now, I’m signed up to play in Cluj, so hopefully I make it there. That will be good to return to my dad’s home country. I haven’t been back in a few years, so that will be a nice opportunity if I get it.”

Asked what she wanted her identity to be, the 2021 US Open winner replied: “At the end of the day, I just want to hit the ball, like, to the corners and hard. I feel like I’m doing all this variety, and it’s not, like, doing what I want it to do. I need to just work on, you know, playing in a way more similar to how I was playing when I was younger.

“I always just changed direction, took the ball early, and went for it. I think I do have the ability to do many things on the court, but I feel like as I’m learning all those skills, it’s like I need to stick to my guns a bit as well and work on that. For me, it’s pretty simple.”