Raducanu made encouraging progress last year, climbing back into the top 30 in the world and playing more games than in any previous season.
The defeat means she has only advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam once since her stunning victory at the US Open as a teenage qualifier in 2021.
However, the technical work she wanted to do in the offseason with coach Francisco Roig – who helped Rafael Nadal win 16 of his 22 major titles – was compromised by a foot injury.
When Raducanu returned in 2026, an adjustment to her forehand – a higher and longer takeback, designed to add more spin – was evident.
But she appeared to lack shot confidence against Potapova, hitting 70% of her forehand returns – compared to her opponent’s 96% – and making 19 unforced errors from that wing.
“I want to play in a different way. The misalignment with how I play now and how I want to play is something I want to work on,” Raducanu said.
Mistakes littered all aspects of Raducanu’s match against Potapova, with the Briton saying afterwards that she didn’t feel “that good” from the start.
This was evident from a subdued performance. Not only did she seem to lack confidence in her shots, but her mood was flat and rarely interacted with her support box or the crowd.
It is the first time since the 2022 US Open, when she was still eleventh in the world, that Raducanu has been defeated at a major by a lower-ranked player.
“I just want to hit the ball hard into the corners. I feel like I’m doing all this variety, but it’s not doing what I want,” she added.
“I just have to work on playing in a way that’s more like how I played when I was younger.”
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