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Emma Raducanu has added a tournament to her 2025 calendar after being forced to delay the start of her season due to an injury setback.

The 22-year-old has confirmed her participation in the Singapore Tennis Open, a WTA 250 event scheduled to run from January 27 to February 2, just a week after the conclusion of the Australian Open. This decision marks a significant step in the British tennis star’s efforts to play a more consistent schedule in the upcoming season, following a limited campaign of just 13 tournaments in 2024.

The Singapore Tennis Open, set to take place on the indoor hard courts of the Kallang Tennis Hub, replaces the Thailand Open in Hua Hin. This event also marks the return of top-level women’s tennis to Singapore for the first time since the WTA Finals were held there from 2014 to 2018. Previously, Singapore hosted a WTA Tour event six times between 1986 and 1994. Raducanu will join an impressive field, including world No. 14 Anna Kalinskaya, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, Elise Mertens, and rising star Wang Xinyu.

Laura Ceccarelli, co-tournament director, expressed her excitement about Raducanu’s participation:

The player field is looking good for the tournament, and I believe we are going to see some great matches in both singles and doubles.

Emma Raducanu’s Developments in 2025

Emma Raducanu

Raducanu was originally set to kick off her season at the ASB Classic in Auckland, but a back injury forced her to withdraw from the ATP 250 event. She will now make her season debut at the 2025 Australian Open, scheduled from January 12 to 26. This marks her return to Grand Slam competition after a challenging period marred by injuries.

The Brit last competed at the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November, where she delivered an impressive performance, winning all three of her matches as Great Britain reached the semi-finals. However, she has not played a WTA Tour event since the Korea Open in September 2024, where an injury forced her withdrawal and subsequent absence from five scheduled tournaments in the Asian swing.

Raducanu’s commitment to a fuller schedule in 2025 is highlighted by her recent appointment of renowned fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura, who has previously worked with tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka. Nakamura’s expertise is expected to address the 22-year-old’s ongoing physical struggles and improve her durability on the tour.

Emma Raducanu is gearing up for a pivotal 2025 season after an injury setback delayed her start to the year. The 22-year-old Brit, currently ranked world No. 56, has announced her participation in the Singapore Tennis Open, a WTA 250 event set to take place from January 27 to February 2, marking the return of top-tier women’s tennis to Singapore for the first time since 2018.

A Welcome Return to the Tour

Raducanu was originally slated to begin her season at the ASB Classic in Auckland but withdrew due to a back injury. The setback also limited her participation in late 2024, as she pulled out of multiple events following a Seoul injury during the Asian swing.

“Tried my best to be ready,” Raducanu told the WTA. “I love Auckland and the fans here but unfortunately picked up a back niggle and won’t be ready in time.”

Now, the Singapore Tennis Open provides her with a fresh opportunity to jumpstart her campaign after the Australian Open, where she is expected to make her season debut.

Raducanu will face stiff competition in Singapore, with world No. 14 Anna Kalinskaya, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, Elise Mertens, and Wang Xinyu among the notable names on the entry list. The tournament, staged at the Kallang Tennis Hub, replaces the Thailand Open and promises a strong player field, according to co-tournament director Laura Ceccarelli.

“The player field is looking good for the tournament, and I believe we are going to see some great matches in both singles and doubles,” Ceccarelli stated.

A Focus on Fitness and Longevity

Raducanu’s injury history has been a recurring theme since her meteoric rise to win the 2021 US Open. To address her physical challenges, she has brought on renowned trainer Yutaka Nakamura, who has worked with Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka, to enhance her athleticism and durability.

Emma Raducanu

Speaking at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga last November, Raducanu outlined her commitment to staying healthy and on court for longer stretches.

“I think my goal next year is to stay on court longer,” she explained. “This year I came to top 60 in the world, but I played I think less than 15 events. I know if I’m on court and healthy and competing, I can go even higher and further.”

Raducanu also highlighted her athleticism as an area with untapped potential, adding:

“It’s nowhere near its full potential. I’m just looking forward to exploring that further, and ready to commit to doing that.”

Aiming for a Breakthrough in 2025

Raducanu enters 2025 with the aim of building consistency and climbing back up the rankings. Her participation in the Singapore Tennis Open, along with a renewed focus on fitness, reflects a strategic approach to managing her schedule and maximizing her performance.

The Brit’s last WTA semifinal appearance was in Seoul in 2022, and a strong showing in Singapore could signal her resurgence as a serious contender on the tour.

Emma Raducanu delivers philosophical injury update ahead of Australian Open

Concerns about Emma Raducanu’s readiness for the Australian Open have been partly assuaged by social-media images of an intense training session in Melbourne.

Raducanu had planned to be participating in the Auckland Open this week, only to withdraw on the eve of the tournament on account of the niggling back trouble that had dogged her off-season.

But she was pictured moving freely on one of Melbourne’s blue practice courts in a hitting session with her close friend Fran Jones, the British No 5.

In a separate series of images, Raducanu is shown hurling a medicine ball into the floor in an exercise that was presumably prescribed by her new fitness trainer, Yutaka Nakamura.

Since joining the Raducanu camp for the first time in November, Nakamura – who supervised Maria Sharapova’s training regime for eight years – has been trying to improve his new charge’s patchy fitness record. But the recent issues with Raducanu’s back have underlined how much work still needs to be done.

Raducanu labelled her latest Instagram photo-dump with the caption “being grateful for health & channelling into growth”. She also attached an image of a WhatsApp message that read: “It’s funny you forget how much for granted you take being fit is & only remember when you’re on the sidelines again.”

While Raducanu’s non-appearance in Auckland was not a significant disappointment, given the fact that it is only a 250-point event with a modest field, the Australian Open is one of the four most prestigious events of the year.

Emma Raducanu

Starting on Jan 12, the first major of the season will bring the world’s best players together in pursuit of a first prize approaching £2 million, not to mention the 2,000 rankings points – enough to put the winner on the verge of the world’s top 20 even if they did not play another event all year.

The British No 1, Katie Boulter, should go into Melbourne with some confidence after scoring two dominant victories at the United Cup in Sydney over the past few days.

Having defeated Nadia Podoroska of Argentina and Australia’s Olivia Gadecki, both in straight sets, Boulter went up against world No 2 Iga Swiatek on Thursday and pushed her all the way in a narrow 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 defeat.

With Hubert Hurkacz also defeating Billy Harris in the men’s match, Great Britain were eliminated by Poland at the quarter-final stage.

Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from this week’s WTA event in Auckland because of a back problem.

The 22-year-old was due to play Robin Montgomery of the United States in the first round of the ASB Classic on Tuesday.

Raducanu will now fly to Melbourne to continue her preparations for the Australian Open, which begins on 12 January.

“Tried my best to be ready,” she said. “I love Auckland and the fans here, but unfortunately I picked up a back niggle and won’t be ready in time.”

The 2021 US Open champion sprained ligaments in her foot in Seoul in September and could only play three further matches last season.

She won them all, on national duty for Great Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, but will now head into the first Grand Slam of the season with no match practice.

Raducanu suffered fewer injury problems last season but only played 10 matches after Wimbledon, and she also missed March’s Miami Open with a back issue.

She has hired the renowned fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura, who has been in Auckland with her.

“I just needed a more tailored approach and I needed someone more dedicated to me alone as an individual and I’m looking forward to what comes with this,” Raducanu told reporters earlier this month.

“It definitely adds another dimension to the way me and [coach] Nick [Cavaday] work,” she added.

“It’s all become, in a very positive way, integrated and together and connected, and we can see already things transfer on to the tennis court that we do in the gym.”

Emma Raducanu

Raducanu is currently ranked 56th in the world and so will not be seeded for the Australian Open.

Burrage ‘makes most’ of Auckland opportunity

Despite Raducanu’s absence, there was a British presence in the Auckland singles when Jodie Burrage was given a spot in the draw as a late lucky loser.

The world number 179, who missed large chunks of last season with wrist and ankle injuries, made the most of her opportunity with a 6-3 6-3 win over New Zealand wildcard Vivian Yang.

Burrage lost in qualifying but moved into the main draw after Belgium’s Elise Mertens withdrew on Monday through injury.

“It was a crazy day, I stuck around and didn’t think I’d be getting in. It was very last minute and I’m very happy to make the most of the match,” said Burrage, who plays American Hailey Baptiste next.

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu pulled out of the Auckland Classic on Tuesday with a “back niggle” in a blow to her Australian Open preparations.

Britain’s Raducanu will now fly to Melbourne to begin rehabilitation ahead of the year’s first major starting on January 12.

The 22-year-old has suffered a series of injuries since bursting onto the scene with her New York triumph in 2021.

“I’ve tried my best to be ready. I love Auckland and the fans here,” the 56th -ranked Raducanu said. “But unfortunately I’ve picked up a back niggle and I won’t be ready in time.”

Raducanu is travelling with renowned fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura in an attempt to better withstand the rigours of professional tennis.

Raducanu missed a chunk of 2023 following wrist and ankle surgery, and was recently side-lined for two months by a foot injury.

Former Australian Open semi-finalist Elise Mertens also withdrew hours before the second seed’s first-round match in Auckland.

The tournament has been shorn of four of its eight seeds in the first round.

Third-seeded American Amanda Anisimova was upset in three sets by compatriot Alycia Parks to join Raducanu, Mertens and fourth-seeded New Zealander Lulu Sun in an early exit.

Emma Raducanu

Errors crept into Anisimova’s game after winning the first set, going down 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Top seed Madison Keys defied blustery conditions to win her first-round match in straight sets over Lucia Bronzetti.

American world number 21 Keys was relieved to start her season with a solid 6-4, 6-4 outing against the Italian.

“I feel like we all come out, we’re a little bit nervous, but it’s obviously so much fun to be back out here,” she said. “Lucia is one of those players who’s just going to make you keep on having to play shots. So it’s great for the confidence this early in the season.”

The 29-year-old will next play unseeded Romanian Jaqueline Cristian after her Ukrainian opponent Yuliia Starodubtseva retired during their second set.

Former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin beat China’s Wang Xiyu 7-6 (7⁄5), 6-1, the American setting up a second-round match against fifth-seeded Dane Clara Tauson.

Emma Raducanu has been forced to withdraw from the Auckland Open after suffering a back injury.

The 22-year-old, who was seeded sixth in New Zealand, has begun her season in a frustratingly familiar manner after spending much of the past few years with various injuries, including her wrists, ankles and back.

The Briton was set to face American Robin Montgomery in the first round of the ASB Classic on Tuesday but was forced to withdraw due to back pain that has hindered her off-season preparations.

“Tried my best to be ready,” Raducanu said. “I love Auckland and the fans here, but unfortunately I picked up a back niggle and won’t be ready in time.”

Raducanu is still set to travel to Melbourne to continue her preparations for the Australian Open, which begins on Jan. 12. She will not be seeded for the tournament.

The former U.S. Open winner has hired fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura in hopes to regain full fitness in the 2025 season.

“I just needed a more tailored approach and I needed someone more dedicated to me alone as an individual and I’m looking forward to what comes with this,” Raducanu said earlier this month.

“It definitely adds another dimension to the way me and [coach] Nick [Cavaday] work.”

Emma Raducanu now knows who her first opponent of the 2025 season will be.

The Brit endured another frustrating campaign in 2024, as she was once again blighted by injuries following her return after ankle and double wrist surgery.

Despite her fitness issues and lack of matches played, the 22-year-old was still able to climb back into the top 60 after starting the year ranked outside the top 300.

Now heading into 2025 following some promising performances at the Billie Jean King Cup and adding fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura to her team, Raducanu feels fresh and motivated ahead of Auckland’s ASB Classic.

Who will Emma Raducanu play at the Auckland Open?

Emma Raducanu returns to Auckland to commence her season for the third year in a row.

The British player has been placed in the top half of the draw, which includes top seed Madison Keys and Lulu Sun, who beat the 2021 US Open winner at Wimbledon.

The tournament will begin on December 30, and Raducanu’s first opponent will be America’s Robin Montgomery.

The pair have yet to play against one another, and it is sure to be a fascinating contest with two of the brightest young talents on the WTA Tour.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka is also in the draw, and is playing in Auckland for the first time since 2017. She will start her campaign against a qualifier.

What is Emma raducanu’s record at Auckland’s ASB Classic?

Emma Raducanu

Raducanu has played at the ASB CLassic in both 2023 and 2024 and reached the last 16 on both occasions.

In 2023 she was forced to retire from the contest against Viktória Hrunčáková with the score locked at one set apiece. The following year she lost a three-set battle against Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist Elina Svitolina.

Speaking about Raducanu’s return to Auckland in 2025 , tournament director Nicolas Lamperin told the New Zealand Herald: “Someone like Emma will always be on top of our list, she’s a marquee player, her ranking doesn’t really matter in terms of the star power that she brings to the tournament.

“We’ve seen the effect on ticket sales, every time we have announced her there is always a major spike.

“We have also seen the reaction from our sponsors when we are having a discussion and sharing the possibility that she might be coming. She sells tickets and fans want to see her. She has a special relationship with Auckland and New Zealand.”

Emma Raducanu is rewriting her story once again. At 22, the former US Open champion is determined to shake off the ghosts of her stop-start career by teaming up with renowned fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura. Known for his work with Grand Slam winners Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka. Nakamura’s appointment signals a fresh attempt to transform Raducanu’s physical durability—a critical element she admits has yet to reach its potential.

Since her magical fortnight at Flushing Meadows in 2021, Raducanu’s career has been marked as much by her promise as by persistent injuries. Wrist and ankle surgeries sidelined her for most of 2023, but her struggles with fitness stretch back even further

This new partnership could be her ticket to staying healthy and becoming one of tennis’ most formidable athletes. “I think I can become one of the best athletes out there in tennis, and I’m just looking forward to seeing how much I can do,” she declared recently.

Tennis is one of the most popular sports in the world, and fans look forward to seeing Raducanu’s next move. As it were, high-profile tennis tournaments have always been a hit with sport bettors, especially global events such as Wimbledon. Although Raducanu isn’t currently a favorite for the 2025 event, with odds of 50/1 according to Crypto Betting Limited, however, special bonuses and promotions are available during big tournaments that can help fans get better value for money. And when it comes to crypto, you can enjoy anonymity, security, and fast transactions.

Perhaps the Brit’s odds will shorten by the time the event comes around, thanks to the new trainer.

Indeed, for Raducanu, the choice of Nakamura is more than just a desire to overcome physical setbacks—it’s a strategic move. Historically, her career has been riddled with rapid transitions between coaches and training methodologies. Yet, her collaboration with Nakamura comes with an unusual commitment: he’ll be by her side for “pretty much most weeks of the year,” a rarity in her typically short-lived coaching partnerships.

Emma Raducanu

Raducanu’s rise from a virtually unknown teenager to a Grand Slam champion was meteoric. Winning ten consecutive matches at the US Open without dropping a set catapulted her to global stardom. It also set sky-high expectations, leaving little room for the growing pains often accompanying young athletes. The whirlwind of sponsorship deals and media attention gave her incredible off-court opportunities. Still, the lack of a stable foundation in her game has become increasingly evident as injuries and inconsistent results have taken their toll.

Nakamura enters a challenging but exciting dynamic. Raducanu’s independence and intellectual curiosity are well-known, but they’ve also been sources of friction in her past coaching relationships. In her words, she’s often parted ways with coaches who couldn’t keep up with her relentless questions.

As much as her physical state needs attention, Raducanu’s ability to trust and stick with a plan may be just as crucial to her future success. Her decision to revisit childhood coach Nick Cavaday after several short-lived partnerships suggests a yearning for familiarity and stability. This sense of returning to her roots might counter her high expectations and restless ambition.

Even so, there’s no denying the pressure Raducanu faces. The rare achievement of winning a major as a teenager has given her enormous latitude, but it has also been a double-edged sword. Critics point out the dissonance between her aspirations of becoming the “best athlete out there” and her inability to string together an entire season without setbacks. For now, however, Raducanu remains focused on putting in the work.

Emma Raducanu became the most wanted athlete in the world after she won the 2021 US Open, but her hopes of attracting new commercial partners may be over for now.

That’s the verdict of Dr. Rob Wilson, a professor of Applied Sport Finance at Sheffield Hallam University, who believes the British star’s best hope of continuing her lucrative sponsorship agreements is to extend deals with her current backers.

British Airways, Vodafone, Tiffany, Dior, Evian, Wilson, Nike and HSBC were among the stellar companies eager to recruit Raducanu as a brand ambassador after her history US Open win, but it is not known if she is still working with those brands.

There have been reports that some of those lucrative brand ambassador deals may have come to an end, with Raducanu admitting earlier this month that they may have been a distraction after her famous moment in New York.

The Brit has often been criticised for putting sponsorship commitments ahead of tennis and while that accusation was unfair for a player who has always been committed to tennis, Raducanu has admitted the demands of her backers may have distracted her from her ambitions as an athlete.

“I’m obviously very grateful and fortunate to have had certain experiences and opportunities but I wasn’t prepared for the other things that inevitably do take some energy out of you,” she said.

“Especially straight after I did really well, for the next few years it was very much like there was so much communication about things off the court.

“And I would always, always give my 100 per cent on the court. I was always working really hard, but I just think that I wasn’t prepared as well for the other things that inevitably do take some energy out of you.

“I think now I’m a lot more structured. I’ll be like: ‘OK, I have this time where one hour we will talk about business. And now I’m going to go train for the rest of the week’.

“Also I think I’ve learned how to say no a bit more. Initially, I felt really bad for letting people down. I’d always want to do extra for whatever partner or magazine or whatever I’m shooting for.”

Now a financial expert has suggested Raducanu is no longer an attractive option for new sponsors, who may shy away from hiring her due to her record with injuries and the long spells she has had away from the court.

“I think with my financial sustainability head on, Emma Raducanu would be better off going for the longer term deals that are through extensions to her existing partners that have been there through that kind of boom phase of her career,” Wilson told Cardplayer.

“I think she will find it difficult to find new partners that are prepared to pay big money even if she gets through to a final or wins one of the big competitions simply because history now tells us that she’s won one competition and then been fairly irrelevant subsequently.

Emma Raducanu

“So from her perspective, I think continuation deals would be a more stable way of her moving forward.”

Wilson went on to compare the decline in Raduanu’s commercial value to that of soccer star David Beckham, who suffered a huge fall from grace after he was sent-off while playing for England in the 1998 World Cup finals.

“We’ve seen massive fall-offs in certain sports,” he added. “David Beckham is the one that stands out the most when he got sent off in the World Cup and he went through that year of really struggling publicly. Then of course then he came through the other side and was able to double and triple and quadruple down on that and became very wealthy as a result.

“I don’t think we’ve really seen an athlete be marketed in the way that Emma has been that has then subsequently fallen out of favor. Because what you tend to find in the female space is that the competitive balance is quite high.

“So you might have a female athlete that wins a tournament and then doesn’t win one again, but they won’t have received the marketing exposure that Emma did.

“I think that’s the unique thing about her is it was immediate because she became so highly marketable in that short space of time. I can’t think off the top of my head of an athlete that’s really suffered not just the sporting performance drop off, but a financial performance drop off as a result of that sporting performance.”

As the 2025 tennis season approaches, Emma Raducanu is gearing up for action as she heads to Auckland for her opening tournament of the year. The British No. 1 will feature at the ASB Classic, competing against a host of elite players on the WTA Tour.

Since her stunning triumph at the US Open in 2022, Raducanu has faced a string of injury setbacks. However, the 2024 campaign saw her resiliently participate in 13 tournaments, despite battling foot and back injuries, ultimately finishing the season ranked World No. 57. Now, she has her sights firmly set on making significant strides in 2025, with the ASB Classic marking her season debut.

In a recent update shared by her new fitness coach, Yutaka Nakamura, fans caught a glimpse of Raducanu as she departed for Auckland. The snapshot, posted on Friday, shows the 22-year-old alongside Nakamura and her head coach, Nick Cavaday, highlighting the team’s camaraderie as they embark on this new chapter.

This year marks the third consecutive occasion that Raducanu will commence her season at the ASB Classic. In 2023, she began strongly, defeating Linda Fruhvirtova before bowing out to Viktoria Hruncakova in the second round. The following year, she again exited in the second round, this time overcoming Elena-Gabriela Ruse before losing to the eventual runner-up, Elina Svitolina.

Raducanu won’t be alone in the spotlight at the 2025 ASB Classic, as she shares the stage with tennis stars Naomi Osaka and Simona Halep. Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, is making her highly anticipated return to Auckland after an eight-year hiatus, entering the tournament as the seventh seed in the women’s singles draw. During her last appearance in 2017, she reached the quarterfinals.

Simona Halep, another two-time Grand Slam winner, will also grace Auckland, entering the fray thanks to a wildcard. This will be her first appearance at the ASB Classic since 2013, having also competed in the event back in 2011.

Heading into the ASB Classic, World No. 21 Madison Keys is the top seed, followed by second seed Elise Mertens, third seed Amanda Anisimova, and fourth seed Lulu Sun, who captured attention with her remarkable quarterfinal run at Wimbledon in 2024. Notably absent from this year’s tournament are two-time defending champion Coco Gauff and last year’s runner-up, Elina Svitolina.