Emma Raducanu living up to her 'one-hit wonder' label

All those who labeled Emma Raducanu's improbable 2021 U.S. Open victory "a fluke" are starting to feel vindicated.

Three years since the Briton became the first player to win a major as a qualifier , she has lost all her matches at Flushing Meadows, with her latest defeat coming Tuesday night in the first round of the 2024 U.S. Open — a 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 loss to America's Sofia Kenin.

The loss marked a continued trend of underwhelming performances at majors, with Raducanu failing to advance past the fourth round at any of the slams since 2022. In fact, since her fairy-tale run in Queens three years ago, Raducanu has struggled even at WTA 1000 and WTA 500 tournaments, with her best result — a semifinal loss to Jelena Ostapenko — coming at the Korea Open in Sept. 2022.

While injuries are a valid excuse — Raducanu has dealt with recurring ankle, wrist and back issues — some have cited poor preparation for her Grand Slam woes. To that end, Raducanu skipped the entire North American hardcourt swing (Toronto, Cincinnati and other events) in the leadup to the U.S. Open — a decision she regretted following her U.S. Open ouster on Tuesday.

"I would have preferred to probably play a little bit more before coming into the U.S. Open," Raducanu rued, via The Guardian . "I know when I have a lot of matches, just like every player, you feel really good, you feel like everything's automatic. So, yeah, I think I can learn from it and manage my schedule slightly differently, maybe. I would say it wasn't [just] me. It was more of like a collective call. And I can't really change it."

The emotional Raducanu couldn't hold back her tears when reminded of her inability to win a match at the surface where she made history three years ago.

Raducanu showed flashes of the player who won the 2021 U.S. Open during July's Wimbledon , where she suffered a fourth-round loss to New Zealand's Lulu Sun. Many felt she needed to compete at more events to build momentum for the year-ending events. It was evident Tuesday that her lack of matchplay and apparent poor conditioning cost her dearly under the bright lights of Flushing Meadows.

"I'm just gonna go back to the drawing board and train and analyze where I went wrong and try to improve for the rest of the season," Raducanu said. "Obviously, the slams are over for this year, but it's not actually that long until Australia comes around again."

While history will likely remember Raducanu as a "one-hit wonder," she has ample time to change that narrative and prove her doubters wrong. It's easy to forget she's still only 21.