Emma Raducanu grows stronger and smarter after tough Wimbledon exit
So soon after such a crushing defeat, Emma Raducanu was not quite ready to reflect on the positive aspects of her performance.Her eyes were red and still watering.Every thought she articulated was punctuated by a deep sigh.As she looked back to her tussle with Aryna Sabalenka on a Centre Court as loud as it has been for a decade, all the 22-year-old could think about were the opportunities she had squandered: “It’s better for me to feel a bit of the pain and then process it,” she said.There will be time for Raducanu to reflect on the encouraging step forward she has taken.
After being a punching bag for the elite during her four years on the tour, she did not merely play a relatively tight two-hour match with Sabalenka, she challenged the world No 1 to scale a high bar in the 7-6 (4), 6-4 defeat,Raducanu’s impressive display attracted a peak TV audience in the UK of 5 million, said the BBC,Raducanu offered a greater understanding of how she can use her strengths to trouble the best,She smartly chose her moments to attack with her forehand, eked out errors with her solid defence, maintaining her intensity in the many intense exchanges, and put the Belarusian under sustained pressure with her quality returning,Her serve, a liability earlier in the year, was largely positive.
Raducanu does not match the weight of shot by Sabalenka, but her versatile game can leave its own mark.A week ago, Raducanu’s prospects of a favourable outcome at Wimbledon were unconvincing as she tried to manage the back spasms that have limited her time on-court throughout the year in addition to her undisclosed personal issues.She has been criticised as being frail, both her head and her body, but the performances here through adversity have reflected her toughness.The best in the world save their best for the biggest moments and Sabalanka’s level was supreme on the important points.She particularly used her improved variety of shot to break down Raducanu’s formidable defence, thoughtfully opening up the court with angles and width.
Her delicious drop shot winner to scupper a set point for Raducanu was one of the best shots of the tournament,Even as Centre Court cheered for her demise, the top seed remained composed, reinforcing her status as tournament favourite,Of late, Raducanu has taken great strides towards extracting the best out of her game,She recognises she can not succeed without enjoying her work and needs to feed her creative instincts off the court to unlock her true potential,She has worked alongside coach Mark Petchey since March and they have established a solid base as she attempts to rise back up the rankings towards the top 30 and beyond.
However, she also departed Centre Court aware there will be significant decisions to come.“It’s very difficult,” she said.“He also has his commentating commitments.He agreed to help me until the end of Wimbledon and then we see from there because he gave up some work to work with me here, which I really appreciate and I’m grateful for.That’s a conversation we need to have after a few days.
”At the same time, the obsession with her private life, and particularly the relationship with her prospective US Open mixed doubles partner, Carlos Alcaraz, has become unbearable,Shortly before her match, the topic reached a nadir,While Cameron Norrie celebrated his third-round win and anticipation continued to grow before Raducanu’s duel with Sabalenka, a tabloid journalist decided it was appropriate to ask Norrie whether he was dating Raducanu,Norrie, who had been supported in his player box by his long-term girlfriend, stated he was not,The obsession with Raducanu’s personal life is repulsive and sexist and obscures her admirable progress on-court.
Raducanu left a parting shot at Wimbledon’s new electronic line-calling system, taking issue with a first serve from Sabalenka at 2-4, 15-0, which she believes was incorrectly called in.After his second-round defeat, Jack Draper similarly questioned some of the line calls.“That call was for sure out” said Raducanu.“It’s disappointing that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they’ve been OK.I’ve had a few in my other matches that have been very wrong.
Hopefully they can fix that,”
AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler
AI-engineered paint could reduce the sweltering urban heat island effect in cities and cut air-conditioning bills, scientists have claimed, as machine learning accelerates the creation of new materials for everything from electric motors to carbon capture.Materials experts have used artificial intelligence to formulate new coatings that can keep buildings between 5C and 20C cooler than normal paint after exposure to midday sun. They could also be applied to cars, trains, electrical equipment and other objects that will require more cooling in a world that is heating up.Using machine learning, researchers at universities in the US, China, Singapore and Sweden designed new paint formulas tuned to best reflect the sun’s rays and emit heat, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the science journal Nature.It is the latest example of AI being used to leapfrog traditional trial-and-error approaches to scientific advances
Google undercounts its carbon emissions, report finds
In 2021, Google set a lofty goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Yet in the years since then, the company has moved in the opposite direction as it invests in energy-intensive artificial intelligence. In its latest sustainability report, Google said its carbon emissions had increased 51% between 2019 and 2024.New research aims to debunk even that enormous figure and provide context to Google’s sustainability reports, painting a bleaker picture. A report authored by non-profit advocacy group Kairos Fellowship found that, between 2019 and 2024, Google’s carbon emissions actually went up by 65%
‘A billion people backing you’: China transfixed as Musk turns against Trump
Few break-ups have as many gossiping observers as the fallout between the once inseparable Donald Trump and Elon Musk.The ill-fated bromance between the US president and the world’s richest man, which once raised questions about American oligarchy, is now being pored over by social media users in China, many of whom are Team Musk.The latest drama comes from Musk’s pledge to found a new political party, the America party, if Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which Musk described as “insane” passed the Senate this week (it did). Musk had already vowed to unseat lawmakers who backed Trump’s flagship piece of legislation, which is expected to increase US national debt by $3.3tn
AI companies start winning the copyright fight
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. If you need me after this newsletter publishes, I will be busy poring over photos from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding, the gaudiest and most star-studded affair to disrupt technology news this year. I found it a tacky and spectacular affair. Everyone who was anyone was there, except for Charlize Theron, who, unprompted, said on Monday: “I think we might be the only people who did not get an invite to the Bezos wedding. But that’s OK, because they suck and we’re cool
China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match
They think it’s all over … for human footballers at least.The pitch wasn’t the only artificial element on display at a football match in China on Saturday. Four teams of humanoid robots took on each other in Beijing, in games of three-a-side powered by artificial intelligence.While the modern game has faced accusations of becoming near-robotic in its obsession with tactical perfection, the games in China showed that AI won’t be taking Kylian Mbappé’s job just yet.Footage of the humanoid kickabout showed the robots struggling to kick the ball or stay upright, performing pratfalls that would have earned their flesh-and-blood counterparts a yellow card for diving
Whitehall’s ambition to cut costs using AI is fraught with risk
A Dragons’ Den-style event this week, where tech companies will have 20 minutes to pitch ideas for increasing automation in the British justice system, is one of numerous examples of how the cash-strapped Labour government hopes artificial intelligence and data science can save money and improve public services.Amid warnings from critics that Downing Street has been “drinking the Kool-Aid” on AI, the Department of Health and Social Care this week announced an AI early warning system to detect dangerous maternity services after a series of scandals, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said he wants one in eight operations to be conducted by a robot within a decade.AI is being used to prioritise actions on the 25,000 pieces of correspondence the Department for Work and Pensions receives each day and to detect potential fraud and error in benefit claims. Ministers even have access to an AI tool that is supposed to provide a “vibe check” on parliamentary opinion to help them weigh the political risks of policy proposals.Again and again, ministers are turning to technology to tackle acute crises that in the past might have been dealt with by employing more staff or investing more money
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