Long-term coach? Improved physicality? How Raducanu can reach full potential

Sky Sports' Tim Henman and Martina Navratilova debate whether Emma Raducanu needs to commit to a long-term coach or improve her off-court physicality to reach her full potential.

The British No 1 suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Amanda Anisimova in the third round at Indian Wells last week.

Her 52-minute drubbing has brought about debate as to whether the 23-year-old is better off without a permanent coach. However, some experts feel that the former US Open champion won't be able to achieve future success without one.

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Raducanu parted company with Francisco Roig in the wake of her second-round defeat at the Australian Open.

She enjoyed a strong run of form while working with Andy Murray's former coach Mark Petchey early in 2025 in a temporary arrangement, but hired Roig in August as she sought a new permanent fixture.

Following a six-month spell in which she has endured disappointing results, Roig, who formerly coached Rafael Nadal, became the ninth coach to depart since Raducanu's 2021 US Open win, with the pair gelling well on a personal level but not aligning on style of play.

Her next tournament in Romania saw her reach her first final since her victory in New York in 2021, and since the split from Roig, Raducanu insisted she is happy working with hitting partner Alexis Canter, a 27-year-old British former player who reached a career-high ranking of 779 last year.

Raducanu retained Canter as part of her setup, as well as working with Petchey at Indian Wells.

"You need somebody full-time," tennis legend Navratilova told Sky Sports. "You don't need to have a great coach all the time. Maybe somebody even part-time, which is kind of what she's got.

"But you still have to stay consistent and get this person to get to know you, get the history and give them a chance to make a difference. You can't expect results to come right away - that's a long process.

"You need to buy into the coach and stay there for a little bit longer.

"I think that's the biggest mistake - she's been through too many people and then you get so many different ideas and you don't quite know which one to stick with."

Henman: Raducanu needs more physical resilience

Sky Sports analyst Henman thinks Raducanu should concentrate on working on her physicality to match the likes of fellow Grand Slam champions Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff.

The four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist said: "It was highlighted in a match against Anisimova.

"She's never going to be as big a ball striker as Anisimova and the physicality that she brings to the court is obviously intimidating, as these top players are. But that's where I think Raducanu needs to be physically stronger. She needs more physical resilience so she doesn't get the little injuries that put her away from the court. They stop her building the momentum on the match court.

"You can still do a lot of physical work on the court, whether it's two on one when you're hitting and moving and building up that physical resilience to get stronger, to get faster, to hit the ball harder, to serve bigger. If I could pinpoint one area, it would most definitely be fitness."

Navratilova, a nine-time Wimbledon singles champion, added: "You can hit the ball harder once in a while, but if you're not strong enough, you can't maintain it. It's not about hitting it harder all the time, but being able to sustain it. And the harder you can hit it with less effort, the more control you have and then you save the body because the muscles are doing the work instead of the joints."

'The spotlight will never dim'

Raducanu is currently sitting at world No 24, but Henman believes she has the ability to break into the top 10.

"I think we all appreciate and understand and see how good she could be," Henman said of Raducanu, who shocked the world by winning the US Open as an 18-year-old qualifier.

"If she can continue to add these pieces to the puzzle there's no reason why she can't get in the top 20 and then knock on the door of the top 10.

"It does feel however far we get away from the US Open win, that spotlight will never dim.

"She's a really good athlete, but when she stretched out, she cannot withstand the power that's coming at her and give it back and that's where that's where the gym work comes in."

Robson: Raducanu has 'same ideas' as Petchey

Former Junior Wimbledon champion Laura Robson sees Raducanu's happiness on court as the biggest advantage and argues working with Petchey can only bring out the best in her.

She said: "I think we make such a big deal out of the coaching situation and as long as she is feeling happy on the court, as long as she's confident out there then that's half the job done, and that's what coaches try and bring out in you when you do have one.

"She obviously gets on really well with Petch. They've been on and off for a fair few years now and it's someone she knows. They have the same ideas. They agree on so much that she needs to bring out there, so why not?

"As long as you've got someone who's taking care of the boring stuff like the logistics of booking practice, finding someone to practice with, racket re-strings - all of that. As long as that's taken care of, then you can just focus on trying to play.

"They have the same identity of how both of them feel she should be as a player."

Raducanu is hoping to revert to a more aggressive style in order to compete with the top players and Robson says she has shown in the past that she is capable of playing against the elite on the WTA Tour.

"For sure. We've seen how close her matches against Sabalenka have been," said former British No 1 Robson.

"It feels like everyone is adding different elements to their game all the time, so at the moment it feels like she wants to add that aggression back into her game and once you've got that you can start thinking about adding more variety again so you've got more strings to your bow.

"But you want to have a clear identity as a player before you go out onto any match court - so long as that's defined in your mind then that's half the job done."

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