Emma Raducanu will get her 2026 season underway at the United Cup in Australia this week.
The Briton is set to represent Great Britain at the international hard court event, with the first tie coming against Japan in group E.
Raducanu enjoyed a largely healthy season in 2025, having featured at 22 tour-level events; the most she has appeared at within a calendar year in her career so far.
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Though she didn’t manage to add to her title tally, the former US Open champion ended the year ranked 29th, a position that will have her seeded at the upcoming Australian Open.
Ahead of her campaign in Perth, Raducanu said she is ‘proud’ of the progress she has made in the last 12 months.
Raducanu reflects on her 2025 season ahead of the United Cup
In her pre-tournament press conference, the 23-year-old said: “I would say I’m most proud of, especially in the last year, just stacking good days consistently. I’ve been doing that a lot more and can see the benefits of that.
“I think physically, I also improved. I became fitter, so I was able to play more matches and more tournaments on the road.
“That just gives us more opportunities to get some points here and there and also have good weeks when you’re in a good run of momentum to kind of carry that through three, four, five matches. So yeah, that was a really good benefit for me as well.
“I think also, just my approach to playing. I’ve been a lot better, a lot more composed, but at the same time, enjoying it a lot more again. That’s been a big win for me.”
Emma Raducanu’s first match at the United Cup
Raducanu will have a difficult first test in her first match of the season when she comes up against Japan’s Naomi Osaka.
The four-time major champion produced a much-improved second half of the 2025 season, during which she reached the final of the Canadian Open and the semifinals of the US Open.
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Though Osaka lost her opening match at the United Cup, she has certainly made progress under the wing of Tomasz Wiktorowski, whom she appointed last summer.
Raducanu and Osaka have clashed on the WTA Tour just once, with the sole meeting coming at the 2025 Washington Open.
There, Raducanu emerged victorious in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, before going on to reach the semifinals.
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