Emma Raducanu makes major changes for 2025 tennis season - and it all starts with Christmas
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Emma Raducanu is celebrating Christmas on the other side of the planet as she prepares for her first assault on 2025 at the Australian Open. And Raducanu, 22, insists she is now finally fit and ready to “fulfill my potential”. The 2021 US Open champion has suffered three challenging years since her shock New York triumph as an unknown teenager. She has been dogged by fitness issues and faced criticism for spending too much off-court time on her lucrative endorsement deals. Now, to prepare for her new campaign - starting at the Auckland Open on December 30 - Raducanu appointed Yutaka Nakamura as her first full-time physical trainer on tour and is very keen to limit non-tennis distractions and focus on her career.
“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. “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.
"I’d always want to do extra if they wanted to do another half day. I would do it and I’d fit it in around my schedule. I would put my practices early and then do that in the afternoon. I’m always going to try and do my best to give extra to the brands I’m working with. Especially since I had a year off pretty much with injuries.
