How Emma Raducanu got her mojo back: Brit has rediscovered her sparkle and fallen in love with tennis again after reuniting with coach and splitting up with heart-throb boyfriend
- Raducanu looks like she is enjoying herself - and her tennis - after a tough spell
A gaggle of tennis journalists were sitting on easy chairs in the foyer of the Congress Theatre, waiting not for Madagascar the Musical – that closed last month – but for Emma Raducanu.
As soon as she arrived, it was clear something had changed. The 21-year-old looked at the comical sight of us all sat in an otherwise empty theatre – Eastbourne's Rothesay International use the Congress as part of their tournament venue – and burst out laughing. 'Can I get a squad pic?' she said, passing her phone to her agent and taking the vacant chair, swivelling round to pose with us for the photo.
What a contrast to Madrid last year, when Raducanu managed only 58 words in response to 17 questions from the media.
She was bubbling over with joy and, although it is hard to be gloomy in Eastbourne when its 26oC and tennis on, this was different.
'I'm good. I'm really good,' she began. 'I love the sport, I love tennis. It's kind of taken over me. I've really rekindled a fire inside of me. Just very happy.
Emma Raducanu looks like she is enjoying herself again - and it is showing in her tennis
'I'm really grateful to have this feeling again because it's something I feel I've been missing for the last few years.'
Being content off the court does not inevitably translate to match wins but Raducanu has always said she plays her best tennis when in her happy place.
Twice this week she has mentioned her desire to play like Carlos Alcaraz - with his free-wheeling, broad-smiling, childlike exuberance - and there were echoes of the Spaniard in how Raducanu annihilated world No 33 Elise Mertens in the second round on Wednesday.
Mail Sport explains how we have gone from the Raducanu of last year – monosyllabic in Madrid, then next month bandaged in a hospital bed after surgery on both wrists and her left ankle - to the sparkling force of nature we have seen this week.
She has finally found a coach she 'trusts implicitly'. There is the mentor-turned financier who remains Raducanu's 'rock'. The new friend and a trip to Corpus Christi college.
And the six week break from the match court when Raducanu decided it was time to slam a sound-proof door on the outside noise and start doing things her way.
'New start'
At the Madrid Open in April Raducanu was crushed 6-2, 6-2 by Argentine qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle. She afterwards declared herself: 'Mentally and emotionally exhausted.'
She looked like she needed a break and she took it, with six weeks off from professional tennis, using that time to realign her thinking, tweak her game and reinforce her body. That period of time off the match court also coincided with her reportedly splitting from boyfriend Carlo Agostinelli, the son of billionaire American-Italian financier Robert Agostinelli, and who knows what impact that has had on her outlook.
Raducanu said she was 'mentally and emotionally exhausted' after losing in Madrid last April
She has recently reportedly split from boyfriend Carlo Agostinelli, the son of billionaire American-Italian financier Robert Agostinelli
Raducanu showcased a more positive outlook during last month's tournament in Eastbourne
She clearly did some thinking during that break from competition, and in Eastbourne wrote on the camera lens after matches 'new start' and 'my own pace'.
The latter message was a reference to the thorny topic of scheduling. Every aspect of Raducanu's decision-making since her 2021 US Open win has been picked through with the very finest of toothcombs, and her recent decision to skip the French Open qualifying was controversial, with various armchair observers seeing it as evidence that she was unwilling to put in the hard yards, or considered herself too 'big' to scrap through qualifying.
'I'm going to do things on my own time, at my own pace, and I'm in no rush,' she responded in Eastbourne. 'Everything I'm doing and playing for now is for myself.
'Whether that's tournament scheduling, how much time I take off to train compared to compete, I'm just way more focused on my own lane and less susceptible to outside opinions or views.'
Raducanu will team up with Andy Murray in the mixed doubles at this year's Wimbledon
The latest example of her single-minded determination came when the call arrived from Andy Murray at 9pm on Tuesday night suggesting a mixed doubles alliance. There was some unease from her team about the potential impact on her singles campaign, but the lady was not for turning.
'My team were asking me, 'Emma, are you sure you want to play? Just in case you're still in the tournament.' I was like 'No-brainer',' she said.
'Certain things take energy from you, certain things give you energy. I think playing with Andy will just massively inspire me.'
It is her way or the highway and in an individual sport, that ownership of one's own career is crucial.
A new friend
The week that kick-started Raducanu's year was the Billie Jean King Cup tie against France in Le Portel. It was an important moment for Raducanu off the court, too.
Her relationship with the team format has not always been easy. She made herself unavailable for a qualifier – also against France – last year, and said she did not even know when the tie was – a comment that is not thought to have impressed captain Anne Keothavong.
The week that kick-started Raducanu's year was the Billie Jean King Cup tie against France in Le Portel
Raducanu recently visited Corpus Christie College in Cambridge with fellow pro Fran Jones
Jones (right) and Raducanu are interested in studying at Oxford after they finish playing
It felt a long way back into a tight-knit group after that but Raducanu was selected for Le Portel and is said to have flourished behind the scenes in the team environment. It was there she first struck up a friendship with fellow British player Fran Jones and that relationship has continued.
In between Nottingham and Eastbourne last month, the pair took a day trip to Oxford together, with Raducanu picture outside Corpus Christie college, and this week Jones revealed that the excursion was with a view to studying at the university in the future.
Jones said: 'We're both pretty academic, so we have a vision for the future. Oxford is definitely something that we would both enjoy.'
It is far from usual for players of their age – Jones is 23 – to be looking ahead to a life post-tennis, but Raducanu has always been an independent soul and has clearly found a kindred spirit in Jones.
Asked about Raducanu's positive demeanour, Jones said with a smile: 'It's just a consequence of her spending some time with me. No, it's great to see her in that space. As players we carry a lot of weight throughout the year and it's important to understand how to balance that. I think she's coming to terms with how she wants to be and feel, and how she needs to manage her life off the court.'
The dream team
Aside from scheduling, the most common criticism levelled at Raducanu is over the frequency with which she chops and changes her coaches. Her IMG superagent Max Eisenbud has said that approach was unlikely to change but is appears that it has. Raducanu reunited with childhood mentor Nick Cavaday in January and they have formed a close bond. It was significant after that horrible defeat in Madrid that Raducanu referenced the fact that Cavaday was unable to be with her that week.
Nick Cavaday worked with Raducanu at the LTA Academy and they have reunited
Raducanu referenced the fact that Cavaday was unable to be with her when she lost in Madrid
Mail Sport spoke to the LTA's head of women's tennis Iain Bates, who has known Raducanu since she was a young girl, about what Cavaday brings to the table.
'The first point for sure is their long-standing relationship,' he said. 'So she trusts him. You can't underestimate the significance of that in the chemistry they have.
'Secondly, Nick is a very capable technical coach - and Emma is a very demanding technical student. So they've got a nice connection there with the intrigue Emma has around the game, and Nick is very much in a position to answer those questions and support her desire for improvement.
'The third thing I would say is the stability. They've been able to work together during the 2024 season. It's the chemistry and the trust and the way they see the game.'
The coaching relationship is different with every player. There are those who are happy to take the role of pupil, carrying out instructions, but Raducanu is far more exacting, and that has made it difficult to find a coach who is the right fit.
'Emma is a demanding player,' said Bates. 'The word 'demanding' can be taken out of context but performing in elite sport is a demanding role: she wants to feel like she's getting the best that she can to help her perform on the biggest stage.
'There's different types of coaches in the game and the key is finding what works best for you and I see that in the way Emma and Nick have connected.'
Another figure in her players' box at Wimbledon is Jane O'Donoghue. She is a former LTA employee who is now a director at asset servicing bank Caceis – yet has popped up in the Raducanu box intermittently, working around her day job. She was even her primary coach during her last Wimbledon, in 2022.
'She is crushing it in the finance world,' Raducanu said of O'Donoghue, talking after her second-round win on Wednesday night. 'To me she is like a big sister, she took me under her wing and we always stayed in touch. So tennis is a hobby for her – it gives her the adrenaline that she misses in the office and it gives me that really nice familiar feeling.'
Bates explains the background to the pair's relationship, and reveals how O'Donoghue's support of Raducanu goes far deeper than the brief times she is able to be courtside.
'Jane worked in the LTA for many years and was Emma's case manager - every player is allocated somebody that gives them coaching advice, scheduling advice, how they manage their funding, all those kinds of things. When Jane left the organisation and went into her financial career, they've always maintained a really strong bond and a strong connection.
'So specifically now and even in the last three years, a lot of what Jane would do goes on behind closed doors. She's a friend, a mentor, she's very much a rock for Emma. She's always there when she needs another voice or some extra support.
'There's times in your career where you need some friendly faces around and Jane has always been that for Emma.
'It's a really cool connection that Emma has someone she trusts implicitly.'
Raducanu admitted that there has been a shift in her mindset regarding her 2021 US Open win
LTA physio Milena 'Milly' Mirkovic has also known Raducanu since she was 14 and kept a meticulous eye on her work rate in training as she edged her way back to full fitness after those injuries last year. Mirkovic would count every single shot, or 'contact', Raducanu made in training, keeping a daily total to ensure she did not push herself too hard.
The theme running through the whole support team is they have all known Raducanu since she was a child and that is unlikely to be a coincidence.
Raducanu can be sure that they are working with her not because she is a Grand Slam champion – as a superstar-coach might – but simply because she is Emma.
And when you are a globally famous, Grand Slam winning 21-year-old with multi-million pound endorsement deals, the one thing you really need is people you can trust.
