Emma Raducanu's resurgence: From injury woes and coaching carousel to reclaiming British No. 1 title
Updated 30/07/2025 at 13:26 GMT+1
Emma Raducanu is steadily rising up the rankings, having on Monday claimed a comfortable 6-2 6-4 win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse at the National Bank Open in Montreal. After a dismal few years, marred by injuries and a high turnover of coaches, the 22-year-old has risen to world No.33 and reclaimed the British No.1 crown. Indeed, Raducanu is enjoying her best season since 2021.
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Emma Raducanu continued her resurgence on Monday with a comfortable 6-2 6-4 win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse at the National Bank Open in Montreal.
The victory followed Raducanu’s statement wins over Marta Kostyuk, four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and former world No.3 Maria Sakkari at the DC Open earlier this month.
The 22-year-old’s flurry in form has seen her rise 13 places in the rankings to world No. 33 and reclaim her position as British No.1.
It’s been far from seamless for Raducanu since her fairytale victory at the US Open in 2021 and as she continues her return to the top, we’ve highlighted some of those ups and downs.Â
Wimbledon debut and US Open win (2021)
In September 2021, Raducanu etched her name in the history books by becoming the first qualifier and the youngest British player to win a Grand Slam title when she won the US Open.Â
The Briton, who was 18, did not drop a set on the way to victory in New York, beating Leylah Fernandez 6-4 6-3 in the final.Â
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Earlier that year, Raducanu made her Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon, where she became the youngest British woman to make the fourth round in the Open Era.Â
Her Wimbledon success and US Open glory saw her make rise to world No. 19 by November of the 2021 season and become British No.1.
Injury issues
Raducanu was hampered by minor injuries following her US Open success, losing in the second round at the 2022 Australian Open, and enduring a first round elimination in a blister-ridden US Open title defence.Â
She then missed most of the 2023 campaign due to wrist and ankle injuries, and subsequently dropped outside the world's top 300.Â
In a 2023 interview with the Times, Raducanu said her mental and physical struggles sometimes made her wish she’d "never won the US Open".
"I was struggling with the physical pain but the mental side of it was really difficult for me too," she said. "I very much attach my self-worth to my achievements," she said. "If I lost a match I would be really down, I would have a day of mourning, literally staring at the wall. I feel things so passionately and intensely."
Raducanu, who signed a number of commercial deals after her US Open win, added that the experience meant she "had to mature very quickly" and that she had been "extremely naive".
Coaching carousel
Raducanu’s chopping and changing of coaches has been well documented.Â
After a dismal 2023, she split with her fifth coach in two years, and turned to trusted childhood coach Nick Cavaday for the following season as she came back from wrist and ankle surgeries.Â
However ,Cavaday stepped down for health reasons in January, and Raducanu has not had a full-time coach since.
The 22-year-old ended a two-week trial with Vladimir Platenik on the eve of the Miami Open in March, before going on to reach the quarter-finals and produce some of her best tennis since the 2021 US Open.Â
Since April, Raducanu has settled on an "informal" part-time partnership with Mark Petchey.Â
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"I'd say I'm a bit of a free spirit so I don't need restrictions or being told what to do," Raducanu said. "I think when I'm being really authentic, that's when I'm playing my best."
Raducanu has previously worked with Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson - who was in charge during her US Open title run - Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs.
Raducanu’s resurgence
Since her ad-hoc arrangement with Petchey, Raducanu has reached two quarter-finals and one semi-final, and won at least one match in every event she’s been involved in.Â
She also ran Aryna Sabalenka close earlier this month, losing 7-6 (6), 6-4 in their third round Wimbledon encounter.
The British No.1 has shown a consistency of serve this season, evidenced by her breaking Ruse on five occasions on Monday.Â
Moreover, her recruitment of Japanese fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura appears to have helped her better manage the physical intensity of the season. Raducanu is already in her 16th tournament of the year, having played just 13 throughout the entirety of last season.
In turn, Raducanu has risen from a ranking of 165 last summer to world No.33. Indeed, she is on the cusp of achieving an all-important seeding for the US Open.Â
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