Emma Raducanu is fighting desperately to get back to her best amid some inconsistent results during 2024.
It’s been a long road back to professional tennis for the 21-year-old who shocked the world by winning the US Open in 2021.
On that occasion, she came through qualifying and then won the title to send shockwaves through tennis.
Since then it’s been a struggle with Raducanu needing surgeries on both of her ankles and both of her wrists.
Now, British coach Leon Smith has confirmed who is coaching her and what her training looks like ahead of Wimbledon in just over a week.
Leon Smith shares who is coaching Emma Raducanu
Right now, the youngster is down at 165 in the world rankings but she has been awarded a wildcard for Wimbledon.
With that in mind, she’s been working hard on the practice court and now Smith has shared some information about her progress.
The former Davis Cup captain told BBC Two: “She is working with Nick Cavaday as a coach, who has been in place for a number of months. She has been working out of the national tennis centre and working with the fitness team as well.
“She has Jane O’Donoghue up in Nottingham with her, who has often been a confidant for her as well.
“But I thought Emma looked really good last week, I thought the match against Katie, I enjoyed watching, it was a really high standard.
“Everyone wants to talk about Emma and say will she get back? She will get back. People in the public say will it ever happen again you can’t flip what she did.
“You can’t go through qualifying and win the US Open, it’s such an incredible level. She will get back and she is a very, very good tennis player.”
Raducanu can star at Wimbledon
The talented player thrives on having the crowd right behind her and that is what will happen when Wimbledon gets underway.
It’s good that she’s got Cavaday in her corner and the rapport she has with him as a coach can only be a good thing.
Perhaps Raducanu needs less media pressure – which looks unlikely in the UK – as she bids to get back to her best.
In Nottingham last week, Raducanu reached the semi-final before losing to Boulter and she will take confidence from that.
The bad thing about being a wildcard at Wimbledon is that she will likely face at least one top player early in the draw.
Raducanu has never been further than round four at SW19 and with that in mind, she will want to go deeper than that at some point.
It feels unlikely that she will achieve a career-best at Wimbledon next month but Smith’s comments suggest she’s leaving no stone unturned in her bid for glory.
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