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The 2025 tennis season was one for the ages, with a string of huge breakthroughs, incredible matches, and an array of triumphs for the ages.

While there were plenty of moments to look back on, some stood out more than others, helping to make 2025 a season where tennis was well and truly alive.

Here, looking across both the ATP and WTA Tours, we pick our five standout moments from 2025.

Keys’ Australian Open odyssey

So long the ‘nearly woman’ of the WTA Tour, Keys re-wrote the narrative of her career with an epic run to the Australian Open title in January.

Her potential and big-match winning ability were never in doubt, though a string of tough losses and near-misses suggested Keys‘ hopes of major success were done and dusted.

However, after surviving a second-round scare against Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Keys would beat Danielle Collins, Elena Rybakina, Elina Svitolina, Iga Swiatek, and two-time reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka in consecutive matches to triumph.

It was one of the standout Grand Slam triumphs of modern times, and the 30-year-old would later reach a high of world No 5 in the WTA Rankings.

THAT Alcaraz vs Sinner Roland Garros final

Alcaraz versus Sinner was far and away the defining tennis rivalry of 2025, and their historic Roland Garros final was undoubtedly the match of the year — and one of the best of all time.

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Expectations were high for a first Grand Slam final between the two stars, and the pair ultimately delivered a modern-day classic, producing the longest French Open final of the Open Era.

At two sets to love up, Sinner seemed to have his first French Open title in the bag — and then memorably held three championship points at 5-3 up in the fourth set.

That did not deter Alcaraz, though, who produced a comeback for the ages in a staggering 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(2) triumph.

Iga’s Bakery serves up staggering SW19 triumph

After a 13-month title drought — and the end of her French Open dominance — few would have predicted Swiatek to go all the way to the title at Wimbledon.

However, the event proved to be one of the most dominant runs of her career, dropping just one set on her way to the title — with her victory in the final stunning the tennis world.

A rampant Swiatek produced a scintillating performance, and with opponent Amanda Anisimova struggling in her first major final, needed just 57 minutes to seal a staggering 6-0, 6-0 victory.

It was just the third time in history that someone had won a major final with a double bagel, and the first time it had been done this century — while the triumph also saw the Pole move to 6-0 in major finals.

Mboko’s ‘A Star Is Born’ run in Montreal

Mboko was one of the most-improved stars of 2025, and the world No 18’s surge up the WTA Rankings was powered by her stunning run to the Canadian Open title.

Having already climbed from outside the top 300 to world No 85 in the WTA Rankings, Mboko received a wildcard into her home WTA 1000 events.

After beating Grand Slam champions Sofia Kenin and Coco Gauff during her run, the 18-year-old stunned Elena Rybakina in the last four, saving match points to reach the final.

Mboko looked overawed early in the final against four-time major winner Osaka, though she rallied to triumph in three sets, and cemented her place as perhaps the WTA’s hottest prospect.

Vacherot’s history-making Shanghai surprise

While Mboko was perhaps the most surprising 1000-level champion on the WTA, there was no bigger shock than Vacherot’s extraordinary run to the Shanghai Masters title.

The Monegasque had never been ranked inside the top 100 of the ATP Rankings and was down at 204th in the world heading into the event, barely making the qualifying draw.

But, after progressing through qualifying and beating the likes of Alexander Bublik early on, Vacherot stunned Holger Rune in the last eight, before an even more shocking semi-final victory over Novak Djokovic.

Vacherot then memorably beat his very own cousin, fellow surprise finalist Arthur Rinderknech, to lift the title, and is now established as a top-40 star.

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The 2026 ATP Tour season gets underway with United Cup action on Friday, and all eyes will be on how the men’s game develops over the coming twelve months.

However, every player will be adapting to a not-insignificant rule change concerning the ATP Rankings, which has already taken effect in the closing stages of 2025.

Here, we look at the change that the ATP Tour has introduced for the coming season, and how it has affected an array of players.

What is the rule change?

Up until the end of the 2025 tennis season, 19 tournaments could officially count towards a player’s official ATP ranking.

These included the four Grand Slam tournaments, all eight mandatory Masters 1000 events, and then the next seven best results a player achieved across the tennis season.

These events include the Monte Carlo Masters — the one non-mandatory Masters 1000 event — and any events from ATP 500, ATP 250, and ATP Challenger levels; the ATP Finals counts as a bonus event for a player’s ranking, should they qualify.

However, heading into the new season, the ATP has introduced a significant change.

From this season onwards, only 18 events will be counted towards a player’s ranking, with only six results being included with the four Grand Slams and eight mandatory Masters events — alongside the ATP Finals, if relevant.

Top 30 players now also only need to commit to four ATP 500 events across the season, down from five in 2025.

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How has it affected the top 10 ahead of 2026?

The rule change has come into effect this week (Monday, December 29), and seven players inside the top 10 have dropped points, though no players have moved positions.

World No 1 Carlos Alcaraz and world No 2 Jannik Sinner have been unaffected, as has world No 10 Jack Draper.

However, every other player has dropped a small number of points, with one best countable result removed from their ATP Ranking.

World No 3 Alexander Zverev has dropped 50 points, No 4 Novak Djokovic has dropped 10 points, No 5 Felix Auger-Aliassime has dropped 55 points, No 6 Taylor Fritz has dropped 50 points, No 7 Alex de Minaur has dropped 55 points, No Lorenzo Musetti has dropped 50 points, while No 9 Ben Shelton has dropped 10 points.

How has it affected the rest of the ATP Rankings?

The top of the sport has been largely unaffected in terms of player positions at the start of the season, but the further you go down the ATP Rankings, the greater impact you see.

In the top 20, only Jiri Lehecka is affected, with the Czech’s drop of 10 points seeing him fall one place to world No 18 — while Karen Khachanov moves up one position to 17th.

Luciano Darderi and Tallon Griekspoor swap places, with the pair now ranked 25th and 26th, respectively — the only other change inside the top 30.

However, outside of the top 30, there have been some notable moves.

Jaume Munar moves up three places to world No 33 in the ATP Rankings, and Corentin Moutet moves up one place to 34th, with Brandon Nakashima and Stefanos Tsitsipas falling two spots.

Now ranked 35th and 36th in the world, respectively, Nakashima and Tsitsipas — a two-time Grand Slam finalist — face an uphill task to try and secure a seeding for the Australian Open.

The biggest ‘loser’ from a rankings perspective following the rule change is Pablo Carreno Busta, who fell four spots from 89th to 93rd in the world.

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The post The ATP Rankings rule change that’s seen Djokovic, Zverev & 5 more top-10 stars drop points appeared first on Tennis365.

Former world No 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has revealed his “doubt” that Novak Djokovic can win a record-extending 25th Grand Slam singles title in the future.

No man in tennis history can match Djokovic’s staggering haul of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, with the Serbian ultimately set to finish ahead of legendary rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the all-time Grand Slam standings.

However, while Djokovic’s grip atop the all-time standings is likely to remain for quite some time, it has now been over two years since the Serbian’s most recent Grand Slam victory at the 2023 US Open.

He has reached just one major final since then — at Wimbledon in 2024 — with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner having split the last eight Grand Slam titles between them, and dominating on the ATP Tour as a whole.

While Alcaraz turns 23 and Sinner turns 25 in 2026, Djokovic will turn 39, and has faced an array of physical issues in recent years.

The Serbian is still competing at a high level and finished 2025 ranked fourth in the world despite playing just 13 tournaments, though he was beaten in the semi-final of all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Djokovic was forced to retire injured versus Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open, before straight-set defeats to Sinner at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and to Alcaraz at the US Open.

Beating the ‘New 2’ is proving one of the biggest obstacles to Djokovic’s hopes of a 25th major title, and former world No 1 Kafelnikov doubts he will overcome it.

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Speaking to CLAY, the two-time Grand Slam singles champion claimed that Djokovic was “simply too old” to compete for major titles at this stage.

Kafelnikov said: “Honestly, I doubt that he can do it.

“He is the greatest player of all time, no question about it, but competing with these young guys… Novak is not even 35 anymore, he’s 39 now ]in May]. Believe me, the body and metabolism don’t allow you to recover quickly enough or move like a younger player. Nobody can beat nature.

“A 39-year-old is simply too old to compete with a 22-year-old in peak physical condition. He can still compete in best-of-three events, but best-of-five… that’s practically impossible.”

Having not won a Grand Slam title in two seasons, many have questioned how long Djokovic will remain competing in the sport.

There is no doubt that the Serbian is still competing at a very high level, with the 38-year-old arguably still the best male player in the world behind both Alcaraz and Sinner.

Djokovic recently reiterated that he would remain on tour while still competing at a “high level”, and was using the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games as one of his main targets.

But Kafelnikov, who was also an Olympic gold medallist and four-time Grand Slam doubles champion during his career, claimed it was hard to understand the reasons why Djokovic was still playing.

“I honestly have no clue,” added Kafelnikov.

“I’ve said it before -– maybe he feels too loyal to his fan base around the world, to the people who want him to keep going. And that’s fine. Hats off to Novak for that.

“It just shows his courage and dedication. But I really can’t come up with any other reason why he’s still playing.”

Djokovic’s 2026 season will start at the ATP 500 Adelaide International, where he will be the top seed.

That will then be followed by the Australian Open, where he has won 10 of his 24 Grand Slam singles titles.

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Former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs believes Aryna Sabalenka and Nick Kyrgios’ Battle of the Sexes match has done a lot of damage for women’s sport as “there are idiots in the world that now want to have a go at female athletes”.

The controversial match between reigning WTA No 1 Sabalenka and world No 671 Kyrgios took place in Dubai the past weekend, and it was the latter who emerged with a 6-, 6-3 victory with the encounter drawing criticism not only from the world of tennis, but the wider sporting community.

Despite the players and their management group stating it was a good advert for tennis, the match failed to live up to the pre-match hype and it was heavily criticised with former British No 1 Greg Rusedski stating “I just don’t think we need this for our sport”.

Former world No 11 Alize Cornet questioned why four-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka “accepted” to play the match under modified rules – the Belarusian’s side of the court was reduced by 9% while each player only had one serve.

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The Frenchwoman added “it’s really about diminishing and undervaluing Aryna Sabalenka’s skills”.

Four-time women’s doubles Grand Slam champion Stubbs was also unimpressed by the “money grab” as she raised concerns about the damage it has done.

“Didn’t watch 1 point of #BOS But judging by my 5 min on social media, the nonsense being written by people about it is the reason it was a event. Misogynists out in droves, people going after the trans community in women’s sports (fyi look up Renee Richards) & for what? $$$$,” she wrote on X.

“Let’s just call it was it was, shall we. It was a money grab for both players & their management group. Entertaining? U decide. Important? No. No top woman can compete with a good male player, it’s NOT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE! But $$$ got got! So i hope it was worth it.”

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The Australian believes the “idiots” will now be out in force to question women’s athletes.

Stubbs added: “It’s just annoying that there are idiots in the world that now want to have a go at female athletes for being ‘less then’ which is NONSENSE!!!

“They train as hard, compete as hard & deserve RESPECT for how good they are! So if you’re going to be a misogynist, you’re the problem.”️

But Sabalenka insisted after the encounter that there were a lot of reason to be positive as it brought more attention to tennnis.

“Honestly, I don’t understand how people can find negatives in this event,” she said. “Regarding the WTA, I think I showed that I was able to play at a high level, it was an entertaining match; yes, he won, but it was a competitive duel, not a 6-0, 6-0.

“It was a contested, fun, interesting match to watch, it has drawn many eyes to this sport, gathered several legends, many important people sent me messages saying they would be watching the match… so I think we have brought more attention to our sport.”

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Two-time Grand Slam winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov did not mince his words about Carlos Alcaraz’s father’s alleged “interference with the process” following the split with Juan Carlos Ferrero.

After seven highly successful years, the Alcaraz-Carlos Ferrero partnership is no more with the player announcing shortly after the conclusion of the season that he had parted ways with his long-term mentor.

Alcaraz won 24 singles titles – including six Grand Slams and eight ATP Masters 1000 events – and claimed two year-end No 1 trophies while he was also named ATP Player of the Year in 2022 and 2025.

Ferrero, meanwhile, was named Coach of the Year in both those years, although he shared the award with Samuel Lopez – who joined the Alcaraz coaching set-up ahead of this season – this year.

But while the split was a shock to the tennis community, insiders have revealed that there has been tension between Alcaraz entourage – which includes his father Carlos Alcaraz Senior – and Ferrero for quite some time.

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It had been speculated that the Alcaraz camp wanted to get rid of the 2003 French Open winner at the end of the 2024 season, but the player himself was not in favour of the move.

With several reports of meddling from Alcaraz Senior, Kafelnikov believes it is time for the world No 1 to make his own decisions.

“The biggest mistake is when parents interfere with the process,” he told CLAY. “I don’t know the background of Carlos’s father, but I never liked it when someone does that…

“For example, in my family it was me who was making all the decisions. My father never interfered in how much money I was paying a coach or whether I was buying this or that.

“From what I heard, there was a big dispute between Juan Carlos and Carlos’s father. I’ve always said that these kinds of situations will, in the end, affect the player negatively – when parents interfere.

“Carlos is a grown man, he is the one who can make all the decisions now. I don’t know why he didn’t tell his father: ‘Look, it’s my own deal, we’ve been very successful together, won so many Slams, made so much money…’

“That part is a bit disappointing for me.”

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Lopez has taken over as Alcaraz main coach following Ferrero’s departure, but his management team could still add another coach to the set-up.

There is no doubt that the best coaches in the world will line up to mentor one of the biggest stars in men’s tennis, but Kafelnikov says anyone who joins the team should take an early stand about his parents.

“If you ask me, I personally would not want to deal with the parents. If Carlos approaches someone directly, that’s okay,” he said.

“The first thing a new coach should ask for is that the parents stay away from the coaching process. They can sit in the box, they can travel with the team, but they can’t interfere.

“A father cannot be an agent, taking care of all the deals, scheduling, and everything else. I’m honestly not sure who could take the helm now.”

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Alex Eala has revealed that Rafael Nadal gave her some “tips” for her game during a special practice session between the two earlier this year.

A graduate of the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Eala was one of the big breakout stars of the 2025 season, reaching the last four of the WTA 1000 Miami Open and winning her first Grand Slam match at the US Open, among other feats.

The world No 53 will now look to build on her historic 2025 campaign in 2026, and got the chance to hit with tennis icon and 22-time Grand Slam singles champion Nadal during a training session at his eponymous academy in Manacor.

Footage of the hit between Eala and Nadal was shared on the academy’s social media channels at the time, attracting huge interest from the fan bases of both players.

Now, the academy has shared a short new video of Eala opening up about what it was like to hit with one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Speaking in the video, the 20-year-old revealed how Nadal gave her key advice to help her improve on her forehand ahead of 2026.

She said: “It was so special for me. Obviously training with Rafa is something people and young kids can only dream about. So it was such a pleasure to share the court with him.

“He gave me some tips on my forehand and a few other small advices.

“This is the first time I’ve ever hit with him in my life and it’s just a memory that will last forever.”

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Eala’s 2026 season will begin in the first full week of the 2026 WTA Tour season, with the Filipina set to be among the top-seeded players at the WTA 250 Auckland Open.

Action in Auckland will take place from January 5-11, with Eala then heading to play at the Kooyong Classic — a famed exhibition event — in Melbourne the following week.

That will then be followed by the opening Grand Slam event of the season at the Australian Open, with main-draw action set to begin on Sunday, January 18, inside Melbourne Park.

It will be the first time that Eala has ever competed in the main draw of the Australian Open, having not made her Grand Slam debut until the French Open this past May.

Eala has previously competed in the event’s qualifying draw on three separate occasions, though lost in the opening round of qualifying in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

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Acclaimed tennis coach Patrick Mouratoglou has hailed the “extraordinary” rivalry between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner after a dominant 2025 for the two ATP Tour stars.

World No 1 Alcaraz and No 2 Sinner were far and away the two best male players of the season, with the pair sweeping all four Grand Slam titles between them, and combining to win 14 titles in total.

Top-ranked Alcaraz won eight ATP Tour titles in total in 2025 — his highest-ever season tally — with victories at the French Open and US Open, while Sinner’s haul of six titles include Australian Open, Wimbledon, and ATP Finals triumphs.

The pair became the first men in the Open Era to meet in three Grand Slam singles finals in the same season, while also meeting in the final of the ATP Finals, and in Masters 1000 finals at the Italian Open and Cincinnati Open.

Alcaraz edged their 2025 head-to-head 4-2 and leads their overall head-to-head 10-6, with the rivalry set to develop even further in 2026 and beyond.

The pair are comfortably clear at the very top of the ATP Rankings, and acclaimed coach Mouratoglou has now delivered his verdict on their duel.

Writing on LinkedIn about his five ‘strongest’ moments from tennis in 2025, Mouratoglou celebrated the “tennis history” achieved by Alcaraz and Sinner over the past twelve months.

He wrote: “This rivalry is simply extraordinary. Three Grand Slam finals in a row. Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, US Open. Plus the ATP Finals final. This has never happened in tennis history.

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“The level, the dominance, the way they push each other to improve… and the gap they’ve created behind them says everything. We’re witnessing something rare and it’s going to be very hard for anyone else to break into that circle in the coming years.”

The Frenchman also celebrated the Roland Garros final that Alcaraz and Sinner contested back in June, a match that has already been recognised as one of the best in history.

At five hours and 29 minutes in length, it became the longest French Open final of the Open Era, and saw Alcaraz rally from two sets to love down — and save three championship points — to seal an incredible triumph.

Mouratoglou noted both the men’s and women’s singles finals at Roland Garros in his post, and he hailed Alcaraz and Sinner’s “unreal” encounter.

He commented: “On the men’s side, the Alcaraz–Sinner final belongs in the top five Grand Slam finals of all time. Five and a half hours of unreal tennis, constant momentum shifts, total uncertainty until the very last point. If I had to remember only one match from 2025, it would be this one.”

After their dominance in 2025, and having won the last eight major tournaments between them, all eyes are on Alcaraz and Sinner heading into the 2026 tennis season.

The pair are set to compete against each other at an exhibition match in South Korea in early January, and will then officially start their seasons at the Australian Open.

Alcaraz and Sinner will be the first and second seeds in Melbourne, respectively, and all eyes will be on whether they can meet in the final of a fourth straight Grand Slam tournament.

The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam event that Alcaraz has yet to win, with the Spaniard looking to become just the sixth man in the Open Era to complete the Career Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, Sinner enters the event as the two-time defending champion and will look to join Novak Djokovic as the only man in the Open Era to win the title in three consecutive years.

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Amanda Anisimova will start the 2026 campaign at a career-high No 3 in the WTA Rankings as a slight change in the calendar means points will drop before the actual season gets underway.

The American finished 2025 behind Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff in the rankings with her rise coming on the back of an outstanding year that saw her finish runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open, while she also won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Qatar Open and followed it up with a second at the China Open.

It was a remarkable achievement for Anisimova as only two years ago she was down at No 370 in the rankings following her decision to take a break from tennis to focus on her mental health.

The decision was a masterstroke as by the end of 2024 she had risen back up to No 36, then made her top-20 debut following her Qatar success, while she reached the top 10 for the first time after her run to the Wimbledon final, and the top five after the US Open.

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Anisimova finished 2025 on 6,287 points – just 476 behind Gauff – and with the United Cup points from earlier this year dropping in the Live Rankings, she has moved ahead of her compatriot.

Year-End WTA Rankings Top 10

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,870
2. Iga Swiatek – 8,395
3. Coco Gauff – 6,763
4. Amanda Anisimova – 6,287
5. Elena Rybakina – 5,850
6. Jessica Pegula – 5,583
7. Madison Keys – 4,335
8. Jasmine Paolini – 4,325
9. Mirra Andreeva – 4,319
10. Ekaterina Alexandrov – 3,375

Gauff is dropping 500 points following her undefeated run at the United Cup in January, putting her on 6,273 points while Anisimova remains on 6,287 points as she lost in the first round of the ASB Classic in Auckland at the start of this year.

The 2026 season will only get underway on January 2 with the United Cup while the Brisbane International and ASB Classic start on January 4.

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Gauff will once again be in action at the United Cup, where she will look to defend her 500 points, while Anisimova will play in Brisbane and will look to capitalise on any slip-ups from the two-time Grand Slam winner by enjoying a deep run.

Although most players in the top 10 have dropped points from January 2025, the Gauff-Anisimova swap is the only change.

Live Rankings

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,490
2. Iga Swiatek – 8,178
3. Amanda Anisimova – 6,287 (+1)
4. Coco Gauff – 6,273 (-1)
5. Elena Rybakina – 5,850
6. Jessica Pegula – 5,583
7. Madison Keys – 4,335
8. Jasmine Paolini – 4,236
9. Mirra Andreeva – 4,125
10. Ekaterina Alexandrov – 3,375

World No 1 Sabalenka won the Brisbane International this year and drops 500 points, but her gap is big enough to remain well clear of Swiatek, who in turn dropped 325 points after reaching the final of the United Cup.

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Former world No 1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov has given his take on Carlos Alcaraz’s decision to part ways with Juan Carlos Ferrero and has suggested “it must have been hard to deal with him [Alcaraz] lately” due to “off-court temptations”.

Just a few weeks after the conclusion of the 2025 tennis season, Alcaraz dropped a bombshell as he announced he had split from Ferrero following seven successful years that saw him win six Grand Slams and become world No 1.

The decision was a shock to most in the tennis community, but it has since emerged that there had been tension between Alcaraz’s entourage – which includes his father Carlos Alcaraz Senior – and Ferrero while there have also been reports that the parties could not settle on a new contract.

And now two-time Grand Slam winner Kafelnikov has shared his thoughts on the matter and believes Alcaraz likely struggled to resist the “outside noise” that comes with being successful and made life difficult for the “extremely professional”.

In an interview with CLAY, he said: “Look, it’s always easy to talk when you’re not on the inside and you don’t know exactly what happened behind the scenes.

“Knowing that Juan Carlos is extremely professional – he was exactly the same as a player – I’m sure he wants the very best from his players, and his standards of professionalism are very high.

“Probably, with Carlos being Spanish, very young, and attracted to all the off-court temptations that come with success… it must have been hard to deal with him lately.

“It’s understandable – you’re 22 years old, all the girls are chasing you, there’s fame and everything that goes with it. Nobody could resist that at such a young age.

“Juan Carlos probably saw all of this and was trying to separate the work on court from all the outside noise. That’s probably where the clash happened, at least from my perspective.”

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Ferrero has been in Alcaraz’s box since he made his breakthrough and they won 24 ATP singles titles together while the Spaniard also finished as year-end No 1 twice (2022 and 2025).

He has twice won the ATP Tour Player of the Year Award (2022 and 2025) while Ferrero was named the Coach of the Year in both those years.

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Samuel Lopez, who joined the coaching set-up on a full-time basis ahead of the 2025 season has taken over as coach, but how will Ferrero’s absence affect Alcaraz?

“To be honest, I have no idea how he is going to react. But why would you end such a happy partnership in the first place?” Kafelnikov wondered.

“At least it looked like it was happy… There were never any signs that they would go their separate ways – winning Slams, being number one in the world… I am sure that Carlos’s father has a lot to do with this split, not Carlos himself. Now we just have to wait and see what happens next.”

The post Carlos Alcaraz ‘attracted to off-court temptations … all the girls are chasing you’, suggests former world No 1 appeared first on Tennis365.

The tennis rumour mill has been swirling in recent weeks amid claims that British No 1 Emma Raducanu has ended her long-standing association with clothing brand Nike to sign for a rival ahead of the 2026 season

Raducanu was reported to have lined up a lucrative deal with Uniqlo, which would have seen her follow the path of 20-time Grand Slam-winning legend Roger Federer, who made that move at the back end of his career.

It would have been a big change for Raducanu if she had ended her partnership with Nike, with the sportswear giant snapping up the Brit before she won the 2021 US Open and became an international sporting sensation overnight.

While Raducanu has not won a tournament or even reached a WTA Tour final since that amazing win in New York over four years ago, her commercial appeal remains high as she has a huge social media following an is still one of the most talked about players in the women’s game.

So a move to Uniqlo would not have been a surprise, as the Japanese company would appreciate the value of having a player who has strong roots in Asia thanks to her Chinese mother as one of their brand ambassadors.

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Yet Raducanu has taken to court for the first time ahead of the new season after arriving in Perth ahead of the United Cup event and she was still wearing Nike branding.

There is still a possibility that Raducanu could switch to Uniqlo for 2026 as he Nike deal is likely to run until the end of the year, but it appears she is not breaking from her current clothing and shoe suppliers.

Raducanu’s arrival in Australian also dispelled another rumour that she may be forced to start of her season due to an ongoing foot problem.

Yet speaking to the media at the LTA’S National Tennis Centre in London earlier this month, she talked up her hopes of hitting the ground running in the new season.

“I feel quite content with how things are going on and off the court. I’m in a pretty good place,” said Raducanu.

“I just think, despite any challenges I have been facing with the foot or the health at the end of the season, I feel in a good place, and I’m building back in the gym, to start with.

“And I’m feeling pretty relaxed ahead of next year, which is a good place to be. And I’m just proud of the season that I put in this year and the progress I have made.

“I would say that next year, I hope to play less than I did this year. But I think also just incorporating into my warm-ups, fitness, so it’s not necessarily just my fitness sessions are like separate.

“You just have to try and drip feed as much as you can in for the overall health of your body, little and often, I think, is the biggest thing that’s helped.

“And most of all, I think I found a lot more peace with myself and I’m a lot happier with how I’m approaching my tennis and how I’m approaching the team that I have and just what I’m doing and the environment that I have.

“I think that’s the most special thing because it takes so much work and so many days to get to where we want to be. And just enjoying each day and being able to look at it in a pretty healthy perspective is so important.”

Raducanu is set to play her first event representing Great Britain in the United Cup, but she will not be teaming up with Jack Draper after the British No 1 was forced to delay his comeback to tennis due to an ongoing arm injury.

READ NEXT: Emma Raducanu facing rankings peril as opportunity knocks for Victoria Mboko and Alex Eala

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