A respected voice in the tennis world believes “it is only a matter of time” before Emma Raducanu climbs up the rankings, but he acknowledges there is one “big question” mark if she is to enjoy a “big year”.
Sky Sports Tennis commentator Jonathan Overend feels Raducanu “made huge strides last year” and she will reap the rewards in 2025.
Following an injury-disrupted 2023 campaign during which she played only 10 matches after undergoing surgery on both her wrists and one ankle, Raducanu started the 2024 campaign at No 301 in the world.
She made a sluggish start to the season, but found some form during the grass-court swing as she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and semi-final at Nottingham.
Raducanu returned to the top 100 after Wimbledon and eventually finished the year at No 57, but she has since slipped to No 60 after missing the 2025 season-opening ASB Classic due to injury.
But there have been a lot of promising signs 22-year-old on and off the court over the past 12 months. The 2021 US Open winner hired renowned fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura ahead of 2025 and he joins her coaching team alongside Nick Cavaday, who teamed up with her at the start of the last year.
Overend says Raducanu has the perfect set-up.
“Yutaka Nakamura is a very experienced fitness trainer on the tennis circuit, worked for many years with Maria Sharapova,” he told Sky Sports Tennis.
“I think he is exactly the right sort of person for Raducanu to have at her side alongside her coach Nick Cavaday, who has been doing excellent work with her over the last year or so.”
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There is no doubt that Raducanu – who peaked at No 10 after winning the US Open – will surge up the rankings, but Overend admits she will need to stay fit in order to fulfil her potential.
He added: “The thing with Raducanu is she is 60 in the world having made huge strides last year and having played just slightly over 10 tournaments, I think it was 13 events.
“To get to that number playing relatively few tournaments is quite an achievement in itself so I think it is only a matter of time before Raducanu gets back inside the world’s top 50. Then it is about how many of the big tournaments she can pull out big results in because that is really where the big ranking points are available at.
“As we know from her exploits at the US Open in 2021, when she famously won it as a qualifier without dropping a set, she has that ability on her day to beat the very best.
“If she can stay fit, that really is the big question. Now with this established, settled team around her, I think 2025 could be a big year for Emma Raducanu.”
