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Emma Raducanu has no immediate plans to appoint a new coach as she attempts to kickstart a frustrating season in the US next month. The British No 1 will play at Indian Wells and in the Miami Open in March without a full-time replacement for Francisco Roig – her ninth coach since she turned professional – with whom she parted company after her second-round exit at the Australian Open in January.
“Right now I wouldn’t say I’m actively looking for a coach,” Raducanu says in Tokyo, where on Tuesday she was unveiled as a global brand ambassador for the Japanese clothes retailer Uniqlo after ending her association with Nike.
“I think I had a great experience with Francis in terms of how we got on so well … the rapport was great. I think in the end, we just weren’t aligning on certain key aspects. But we still maintain a really good relationship.”
Raducanu, who has been without a tournament win since her shock victory in the US Open in 2021, said she would go into Indian Wells and Miami – where last year she reached the quarter-finals – with the former British pro Alexis Canter, who oversaw her progression to the final of the Transylvania Open last month.
“Right now I have Alexis in my corner,” she says. “He knows me as a person. He knows me as a player. And I’ve actually had some success with him in the past year in Washington [where she overcame Naomi Osaka in the second round] and Cluj … so it’s going well.
“I know the drills that I need to be doing right now in this moment in time … just repetition of doing those key fundamentals. I think I want to go back to that and [develop] a more aggressive style of playing.”
The 23-year-old has battled injury and illness since she announced her arrival on the world stage five years ago at Wimbledon. Last month she retired during the third set of her first-round match with the qualifier Camila Osorio at the Qatar Open, having tried to play on after taking a medical timeout. Raducanu had been looking to move on from the disappointment of losing in straight sets against the home favourite Sorana Cirstea in the Transylvania Open final, a match she described as “very difficult emotionally and physically”.
After overcoming what appeared to be a viral infection picked up in Romania, Raducanu said she was on the way to a full recovery.
“In Cluj, I picked up like a virus, I think, at the start of the tournament,” she says. “So I was dealing with that and the after-effects … I had really long effects for the last three weeks. I’ve been trying to clear them. So the Middle East trip was very difficult for me.
“I’m getting ready for Indian Wells and just trying to get back to full health. And I still have a bit of time, so I’m just looking forward to doing my best to be ready for that.”
Wimbledon is still several months away, but Raducanu conceded that she was already “incredibly excited” by the prospect of playing on home soil this summer.
“That month of the year on the grass is something really special that we all look forward to as Brits,” she says, recalling her Wimbledon debut in 2021, where she reached the fourth round as a wildcard ranked 338th. Weeks later in New York she became the first British woman to win a grand slam title since Virginia Wade in 1977.
“[Wimbledon] was my first big tournament, my first big win, my first big match. And it holds a special place,” she says. “And I feel like the British public have really seen so many different kind of steps I’ve taken as I’ve been growing up … my evolution. They saw me first there.
“Having to pull out of that match in the fourth round and then a few months later winning the US Open … it’s pretty special. I feel like everyone’s seen my history. So to be going back [to Wimbledon] feels very comfortable.”
Raducanu, who had been keeping a low profile on social media ahead of the announcement of her new role with Uniqlo – although she completed a “stealth mission” to one of its Tokyo stores to buy a warm coat – was realistic about the prospects for ending the widespread online abuse of athletes, some of which was on show at the recent Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics.
“For me, I’ve accepted that it’s going to keep happening,” she says. “Whatever everyone tries to do about it, it seems like there are just too many people … that there’s no real way to stop it. It comes with the territory of being in the spotlight or having a public presence. If I wasn’t achieving anything then no one would speak about me, so I think being aware of that and just accepting that there’s no way of stopping it is important.”
As Raducanu’s fans keep their fingers crossed for an injury-free spring and summer, the player says her well documented setbacks on the court have stood her in good stead for the months ahead.
“Sport is a great vehicle in terms of teaching you life lessons. I believe resilience is the biggest lesson that I can take away from this. Because the season is so long – it’s 11 months of the year – it’s very difficult to be on court the entire time if you play all these tournaments that are now being made mandatory.
“Just doing your best each day, and striving to be the best version of yourself is my goal. But I think just knowing that whatever challenge comes my way, I can keep falling down seven times, but I’m going to get up eight times. That’s something that I keep with me. It serves me pretty well in the tough moments.”
