Emma Raducanu is now getting to work with her new coach ahead of the US Open, which she won in 2021.
Francisco Roig, formerly of Rafael Nadal’s team, is the new man, with Mark Petchey going to act as a confidante to Raducanu going forward.
Raducanu was hailed by Amanda Anisimova after losing to the Wimbledon finalist at the Canadian Open and she’s a popular player on the tour.
A new coach will naturally bring some new challenges for Raducanu, and after choosing someone to work with her for an eighth time, there will naturally be some challenges for her to face.
Three huge challenges facing Emma Raducanu working with Francisco Roig
It has to be said that the Great Britain number one now needs stability in her career and it’s vital she puts down some coaching roots with Roig.
One big challenge that she faces is regarding her serve, with Roig likely to identify that as a major flaw that needs rectifying as a matter of urgency.
When Raducanu worked with Vladimir Platenik, he instantly got to work on the service game, spending hours trying to tweak the serve.
Raducanu’s serve hasn’t been the same since her back injury and she arrived at the Australian Open looking considerably rusty when it came to her serve, making 24 double faults in three matches!
The 2021 US Open winner must also prioritise long-term trust over any short-term successes that she might be considering.
Roig is one of the top coaches in tennis and Raducanu needs to focus on working with him over a long period of time rather than demanding or expecting immediate success.
Finally, perhaps Raducanu has to come away from her comfort zone a little bit.
Working with Petchey was all good and well in the short term but she is far too relaxed within that particular bubble.
With the greatest respect to Petchey, Raducanu wasn’t his sole responsibility, with his broadcast work also something which he was contracted to do.
Roig is going to be focused solely on Raducanu and his global reputation should definitely bode well.
Raducanu can improve world ranking under Roig
Right now, Raducanu is up to number 32 in the world and she’s on the cusp of being seeded for the Grand Slam tournaments.
That is something that the 22-year-old needs to do before the season is out and right now, it feels very doable.
Being in the top 32 would help Raducanu significantly when it came to getting better draws at the big events and that can only bode well.
The best thing about Raducanu’s 2025 has been that she has managed to stay injury-free for a prolonged period of time and under Roig, 2026 can be the year she could really kick on.
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