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Aryna Sabalenka claimed the year-end No 1 ranking honour the past two years while Iga Swiatek finished at the top in 2022 and 2023 so will either of them take top spot in 2026?

Well, according to the Sky Sports Tennis predictions, Swiatek won’t be the world No 1 at the end of next season while Sabalenka received one vote with three different pundits going for three different players.

Sabalenka was started the year at No 1 and finished at No 1 with second-placed Swiatek 2,475 points her in the final rankings of 2025 and, in the process, the Belarusian became only the seventh woman to spend a full calendar year at the top of the WTA Rankings.

The 27-year-old won the most titles (four), reached the most finals (nine) and topped the prize money list ($15,008,519).

There is no doubt Sabalenka will be the favourite to continue her form in 2026, but only one of the Sky pundits selected her in the prediction for the 2026 year-end No 1 and that was Laura Robson.

Tim Henman went with Elena Rybakina following her incredible end to the 2025 campaign as she won the WTA Finals undefeated, beating Sabalenka in the final, while Jonathan Overend picked French Open champion Coco Gauff.

Rybakina and Gauff are yet to reach No 1 in the rankings as the former has peaked at No 3 while the American went as high as No 2.

Current world No 5 Rybakina was the clear favourite when it came to predictions for the 2026 Australian Open winner as all three pundits went with the Kazakh star.

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She finished runner-up to Sabalenka in the 2023 final at Melbourne Park, but she is yet to make it past the fourth round at the season-opening Grand Slam outside of that result.

The 2022 Wimbledon winner was also backed by Robson to win a second grass-court Grand Slam, but again the votes were split with Overend going with Gauff and Henman picking Sabalenka.

Overend went all in with Gauff as he also believes she will successfully defend her French Open title and win a second US Open crown following her 2023 success.

Swiatek, of course, can never be discounted at Roland Garros and Henman and Robson both went with the Pole to win this year’s clay-court major. The six-time Grand Slam winner has won four titles in Paris and has a 40–3 record at the tournament.

As for the US Open, Henman went with Amanda Anisimova while Robson backed Sabalenka to make it three in a row at Flushing Meadows.

Anisimova was one of the stars of the 2025 season as she was runner-up at Wimbledon and the US Open, won two WTA 1000 titles and finished at the year at a career-high No 4 in the rankings.

Year-End No 1
Overend: Gauff
Henman: Rybakina
Robson: Sabalenka

Australian Open
Overend: Rybakina
Henman: Rybakina
Robson: Rybakina

French Open
Overend: Gauff
Henman: Swiatek
Robson: Swiatek

Wimbledon
Overend: Gauff
Henman: Sabalenka
Robson: Rybakina

US Open
Overend: Gauff
Henman: Anisimova
Robson: Sabalenka

The post WTA Rankings predictions by Sky tennis pundits: Who will finish as year-end No 1? appeared first on Tennis365.

Carlos Alcaraz’s 2025 season came to a premature end due injury, but all eyes are now on his exhibition schedule with tennis great Jimmy Connors saying “it’s going to be interesting to see” if he does play those events.

The world No 1 was due to represent Spain at the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna this week, but he withdrew from the tournament after picking up an injury during the ATP Finals showpiece match against Jannik Sinner.

Alcaraz needed treatment on his hamstring in the first set, but managed to complete the match as he lost 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 as Sinner won the tournament without dropping a set.

Despite the setback, he was positive he would play at the Davis Cup Finals, but he went for an MRI the following day as a precaution and the scans revealed the injury is more serious than initially thought.

The six-time Grand Slam winner was told he runs the risk of tearing his hamstring if he plays and, as a result, it was decided he would not play in Bologna.

But while Alcaraz’s official tennis season is now over, he still has some exhibitions left this year as he will play two events in the United States in early December.

The first is set for New Jersey on December 7 and the second will take place a day later in Miami.

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During the Advantage Connors podcast featuring former world No 1 Connors and his son Brett, they discussed the ATP Finals and what’s to come.

“Carlos had a little bit of a hamstring thing and got it treated during the match and made him pull out of the Davis Cup, which is going on right now, I don’t know how much of a role that played,” Brett stated.

“It is a bummer when that happens because you just want to get them [win titles] clean, no excuses.”

He added: “It will be fun to see how those guys go into the new year, let’s see how many exhibitions Carlos Alcaraz plays in the next month. …It’s the money-making season.”

The great Jimmy replied: “Yeah, it’s the money-making season, like you haven’t made enough anyway (laughs). More is better. It’s going to be interesting to see. Do they force it and play more exhibitions and go into the Australian tired?

“You know they’ll say, I’ve been travelling, I’ve been doing this, and I play too many exhibitions, too many specials. You can make a lot of money, but then you’re losing the second round of Australia.”

Brett then pointed out that: “These players are young, in their early 20s and they can do whatever, run forever.”

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The post-mortem on a thrilling tennis season is now underway and it is no surprise to see the names of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz either at the top or near the top of a host of key ATP Tour statistics.

Sinner’s numbers look especially impressive as he is listed as the leader in the ATP’s statistics for serving, returing and dealing with pressure points, yet dig beneath the surface of the statistic and they serve up some interesting conclusions.

After losing against Alcaraz in the US Open final, Sinner suggested he needed to make big improvements on his serve to compete with his biggest rival, but the statistics suggest he is already in a league of his own on that shot.

Sinner topped the list for first points won on the ATP Tour this year, with America’s Taylor Fritz second on that list and his compatriot Reilly Opelka third on that list.

The Italian also topped the list for second serve points won, with Australia’s Alex de Minaur in second place and Alcaraz in third on that list.

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Sinner won an impressive 92 per-cent of his service games this year to top that list, with Alcaraz down in sixth on that list, with that most surprising serving statistic from 2025 coming from Alcaraz.

The Spaniard is down in 26th place for first serve points won and that is clearly an area he can improve upon.

Alcaraz tops the ATP stats for percentage of returning points won at 35 per-cent, while Sinner leads the second serve return points won at an impressive 57.8 per-cent in a list that sees Alcaraz in third place with 54 per-cent.

They are numbers that are setting the benchmark for the rest to follow, with Sinner looking back on his achievements in a year that included a three month ban for a doping offence with pride.

“Honestly, I don’t want to compare [years]. It’s an amazing season,” reflected Sinner. “Last year has been an amazing season. This year making four Grand Slam finals, coming here, winning here, having this big streak in end of the year, it’s amazing.

“But mostly I feel I am a better player than last year, I think this is the most important. It’s all part of the process. I always say and believe that if you keep working and trying to be a better player, the results, they’re going to come. This year it was like this.

“Many, many wins, and not many losses. All the losses I had, I tried to see the positive thing and trying to evolve me as a player. I feel like or I felt like this happened in a very good way. I’m extremely happy with the season.”

Alcaraz is already looking ahead to 2026, as he is looking to win the Australian Open for the first time and join the elite list of players who have won all four of the Grand Slam titles.

The post Shocking Carlos Alcaraz serving statistics leave room for improvement in 2026 appeared first on Tennis365.

Emma Raducanu’s 2025 season may have ended in disappointing fashion as she was forced to pull out of the Wuhan Open due to issues with the extreme heat and then abandoned her season after trying to play an additional match in China, but this has still been a good year for the British No 1.

Raducanu started the season outside of the top 50 in the WTA Rankings and she is finishing the year at No 29, with her mission to secure a seeded for the Australian Open in January well on track.

The 23-year-old confirmed she could match some of the best players in women’s tennis and her matches against world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon and in Cincinnati were high-quality contests, even if she narrowly came up short in both of them.

Her overall record for 2025 does not make for hugely impressive reason as she won 28 and lost 22 of her matches over the course of the year, but that was still enough for her to collect prize money of $1,450,476.

That prize money haul took her career prize money earnings to $5,957,378, with a little under half of that coming from here 2021 US Open win, which came with prize money of £2.5m.

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Raducanu has also been one of the most highly endorsed players on the WTA Tour since that breakthrough win in New York and accounts for her company Harbour 6 confirm she is in strong financial health.

The Companies House records in the UK confirm Raducanu’s company has a net worth of £8m and current assets of £10.2m. Those numbers are from the 2023 accounts and they may well be even higher when the 2024 figures are included.

Raducanu’s financial success highlights the appeal she still has to sponsors and that is due, in part, to the inspiration she has provided for young players, especially in her British homeland.

Many young players tried playing tennis for the first time after Raducanu’s US Open and speaking to Tennis365 at the Wuhan Open last month, she spoke about her pride of being a role model for girls who look up to her.

“It’s funny to think that I have had that impact,” said Raducanu. “It’s really nice to be reminded, you know, that you’re inspiring younger kids to play. And it’s very easy to lose sight of that kind of thing because you get so absorbed in your own world.

“But that is that is a really big achievement for me (inspiring young kids) and it’s why I want to keep a really good example on the court, a good demeanour.

“I know some other players maybe sometimes lash out or lose their temper, and it’s inevitable time to time you don’t feel great, and you maybe step up.

“But I remind myself always to try and keep as best possible face, because you never know who’s watching, and you don’t want to, you know, set bad examples for the younger generation.”

Raducanu has pulled out of planned exhibition events in America that could have boosted her bank balance, as she is focused on being fully for her return to action at the United Cup event at the end of December and then heading into the Australian Open in Melbourne in mid-January.

The post Emma Raducanu’s prize money total for 2025 revealed as her net worth and assets soar appeared first on Tennis365.

It’s awards season for the great and good on the men’s tennis tour and Carlos Alcaraz has bagged a nomination in a category that is notable for the non-inclusion of world No 2 Jannik Sinner.

The Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, which recognises fair play, professionalism and integrity on and off the court was dominated by Roger Federer during his career at the top of the game.

Federer won the title on 13 occasions between 2004 and 2017 and the only year he didn’t pick up the award during that run was when his big rival Rafael Nadal was crowned as the winner in 2010.

Now Alcaraz is in the mix to win the title for a second year after he picked up the award for the first time in 2023.

The always popular Grigor Dimitrov won the award last year and the Bulgarian is back in the mix to claim the prize again, as he is on the list of nominees alongside Alcaraz, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Casper Ruud.

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Sinner’s absence from the list of nominees last year was understandable after he failed a doping test at Indian Wells after a performance-enhancing anabolic steroid was found in his sample at the 2024 Indian Wells Masters.

He served the suspension for that rule break between February and May of this year and that may explain why he has again been left off the list for the sportsmanship award.

Famously, Novak Djokovic was never handed this award during his long and successful career at the top of the game and he was also a notable absentee on the list of winners of the ATP Fans’ Favourite award, which was dominated by Federer and Nadal wins and has been claimed by Sinner over the last couple of years.

The ATP have also announced their nominations for the Breakthrough of the Year category, which goes to the player who made the biggest breakthrough this season.

Jack Draper gets a nomination after his win at the Indian Wells Masters and a break into the top 10 of the ATP Rankings, Brazil’s Joao Fonseca is also nominated after some impressive performances, while Miami Open champion Jakub Mensik and shock Shanghai Masters champion Valentin Vacherot are also nominated.

Sinner is represented in the Coach of the Year category, with his team of Darren Cahill & Simone Vagnozzi on a list of nominees that include Vacherot’s coach Benjamin Balleret, Alcaraz’s coaching team of Juan Carlos Ferrero & Samuel Lopez, Felix Auger-Aliassime’s coach Frederic Fontang and Bryan Shelton, coach and father of top ten star Ben.

ATP Awards winners, including Fans’ Favourite, will be revealed during Awards week, starting 8 December.

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Alexander Zverev will finish 2025 as the world No 3, but a remarkable statistic confirms the big-serving German is further away from the top of the game than ever before.

Zverev has suffered a frustrating year, with his appearance in the Australian Open final last January not the prelude to a consistent year for the 28-year-old.

Speaking exclusively to Tennis365 prior to Wimbledon, Zverev admitted he took time to recover from the heavy beating he was handed by Jannik Sinner in that Australian Open final, with his comments summing up where he went wrong after that.

“It did take me a while to get over it because I really went into the match and I thought, I can win this, I’m going to win,” Zverev told Tennis365.

“Then very quickly, I felt like, well, he was outplaying me on every single aspect. So I felt a bit lost out there at times.

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“Jannik was above everyone else the entire tournament and there was nothing else to say, but after that, I made some mistakes.

“I think I overplayed. I didn’t give myself, my body and my mind time to accept what happened. I just carried on playing and kind of had a little bit of a burnout in the middle of the season.

“It was too much. Some stupid decisions from my end and I paid the price for them, but that is in the past now.”

Zverev may have been trying to convince himself that he was back on track heading into Wimbledon, but he lost in the first round at the All England Club and he has struggled to find consistent form since.

He ends 2025 with 5,160 ranking points after going out of the ATP Finals at the group stages and even though he is officially the third best player in the world according to the rankings, the brutal reality is he is going backwards in his effort to challenge the game’s best players.

Zverev is almost 6,000 ranking points behind world No 2 Sinner and even more behind Alcaraz, who has wrapped up the year-end world No 1 ranking.

That means the player ranked at No 1000 in the ATP Rankings is closer to Zverev than the German star is to the top two players in the men’s game.

“For me, an incredibly unsatisfying season,” said Zverev after he was knocked out of the ATP Finals. “The tennis season is long, you have a lot of up and downs. For me there were not many ups. I think for me the Australian Open final, Munich as you mentioned. Everything else, I’m very unsatisfied.”

The gap highlights the dominance Alcaraz and Sinner have over their rivals, with former British No 1 Tim Henman suggesting Zverev needs to spend the weeks ahead of the 2026 season to find a way to change the direction of his career.

“You feel for Zverev. I think he’s had 11 break point chances in his last two matches and he hasn’t broken serve,” Henman told Sky Sports Tennis, after the channel’s lead commentator Jonathan Overend suggested the German’s performance was ‘very odd’.

“He was creating some opportunities, but just couldn’t find a way through and it’s amazing to think 12 months ago when we were watching Zverev and I was the one who said I thought he could win a Grand Slam.

“Then he got to the final at the Australian Open and now I see a performance like that and he looks lost. I don’t see a plan out there. His serving is phenomenal and it is keeping him in these matches, but from the back of the court, his forehand is looking vulnerable, he’s very reactive, he retreats.

“He is missing by a large margin and for someone who is a very, very good player, I just look at his game and I’m surprised that he’s playing a match like this. He has the experience, he has been there for a long time and I feel he needs to go away and reinvent himself.

“He’s got to really look at his game, break down his game and use his weapons more effectively. His serve is very good, but he has to work out how to make it work.

“He’s sitting back hoping his opponents will make mistakes and at this level, you won’t get away with that. He’s a very, very good player. He’s No 3 in the world, but I don’t feel like his game is trending in the right direction.”

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Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s rivals are yet to come up with a successful game plan when they face the two with former world No 1 Justine Henin saying the chasing pack is not up to scratch.

Alcaraz and Sinner will meet in their seventh final in 2025 with four of those coming at the biggest events as after squaring off in the Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open finals, the duo will now face each other in the ATP Finals.

They have been the dominant pair on the ATP Tour the past two years as they have each won four Grand Slams, last year Sinner reached the most finals (nine) and won the most titles (eight) while this year Alcaraz has reached 11 finals and won eight titles with the ATP Finals showpiece match still to come.

The gap between the two and their rivals appears to be widening all the time, according to Henin.

Ahead of the ATP Finals showpiece match in Turin, Alcaraz leads the Live ATP Rankings on 12,050 with Sinner on 11,000 and Alexander Zverev a distant third on 5,160 while Novak Djokovic (4,830) and Auger-Aliassime (4,245) complete the top five.

“We have a top 10 that has been shaken up with players who have dropped out after giving their all in recent years: [Andrey] Rublev, [Daniil] Medvedev, [Casper] Ruud… [Stefanos] Tsitsipas has been there for a while now,” she told Eurosport.

“Some are coming up, others are coming back, but we’ve seen [Felix] Auger-Aliassime’s shortcomings, it’s hard to imagine [Alex] de Minaur going much higher.”

Their ruthlessness continued in Turin this week as they have both reached the final without losing a match with the Italian winning his four matches in straight sets as he beat Auger-Aliassime, Zverev and Shelton in the group phase before seeing off De Minaur in the semi-finals.

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Alcaraz lost one set against Taylor Fritz in the round-robin phase while he beat De Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti without dropping a set to reach the last four, where he defeated Auger-Aliassime in straight sets.

“We can try to rewrite history as much as we want, but that’s the reality,” Henin said. “There are them, and then there are the others. So, yes, we naturally want to see them in the final. I’ve seen other great things this week from other players, but not when they’re up against Sinner or Alcaraz. There’s no suspense there. It’s as simple as that.”

So what makes the new Big Two so impressive?

“When he decides to step on the gas, when he attacks him on his backhand side, he throws him off balance, including on the other side. What’s phenomenal about Alcaraz is his footwork,” the Belgian said.

“He must have done a lot of proprioception work, because he has a responsiveness in his feet that allows him to start faster than anyone else. And Sinner isn’t bad in his own way either. So when you take into account the aerial aspect and the speed, you end up with this huge difference. Physically, they are 10 steps ahead of the others.”

She added: “For people, physicality is often about the ability to last very long matches. But no, it’s not just that. It’s also what they impose, in terms of duration of course, but also in terms of intensity, speed of movement, and speed of execution. Their vision and reactivity constantly pose a problem.”

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Felix Auger-Aliassime’s 2025 ATP Tour season came to an end with a run to the semi-final of the ATP Finals, but how much prize money and how many ranking points did he earn for his efforts?

The Canadian was the eighth and final qualifier for the season-ending event, in fact, Auger-Aliassime qualified so late that his name was initially missing when the draw was made and he didn’t feature in the pre-event photoshoots.

But once his spot was confirmed, he was placed in the Bjorn Borg Group alongside Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton and he eventually finished second behind world No 2 and defending champion Sinner at the end of the group phase.

The 25-year-old met top seed Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final and the reigning world No 1 was too good as he won 6-2, 6-4 to end the eighth seed’s campaign in Italy.

But Auger-Aliassime had plenty of reason to be optimistic after the tournament, as he left with a new career-high ranking and a decent amount of prize money.

Asked about his season afterwards, he replied: “Back where I belong. Back where I feel like I can play with more consistency. Really happy to be part of this tournament, to have played that way in the last few months. Yeah, happy with the progress.

“The journey goes on.”

ATP Ranking Points Earned In Turin

Auger-Aliassime – who had peaked at No 6 in the ATP Rankings in 2022 – started the tournament at No 8 following an incredible few months as he reached the semi-final of the US Open and finished runner-up to Sinner at the Paris Masters.

The Canadian has earned a new career-high ranking by reaching the last four of the ATP Finals with his points coming via his two group wins.

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Players earn 200 points per win in the round-robin phase and Auger-Aliassime defeated Shelton and Zverev for a total of 400. There is no additional points for reaching the semi-final with only the two finalists rewarded after the showpiece match.

The 25-year-old’s 400 points will see him rise three places to No 5 when the rankings are updated on Monday with Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic ahead of him.

Prize Money Earned In Turin

Players earn a $331,000 participation fee if they play three group matches and are then rewarded $396,500 for each group win.

Auger-Aliassime will thus go home with $1,124,000 as he won two group matches.

The Canadian, who $1,260,000 for his semi-final appearance at the US Open in September, will take his prize money for the year to $5,262,350 while his career total now sits at $19,671,882, which will see him move into the top 30 on the all-time list.

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The tennis world has been dominated by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner throughout 2025 and now we will have the two kings of the game contesting the match of the season in the ATP Finals.

Alcaraz and Sinner have been playing at a different level than every other player in the sport over the last year and the pair confirmed their class as they served up a remarkable Saturday of brilliance in Turin.

Sinner was simply brilliant as he saw off Alex de Minaur in straight sets to reach a third successive ATP Finals championship match without dropping a set all week.

That masterful Sinner display appeared to inspire Alcaraz to raise his level and after he blew Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-2, 6-4, he was honest enough to admit he felt invincible on the court as he moved into top gear.

“I felt like I could do everything on court,” said Alcaraz.

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“It doesn’t matter if it was a forehand down the line, dropshots, backhand down the line – I felt like everything was going to be in.

“I found that confidence really helpful coming through the whole match, just pushing him to the limit, pushing him to try and do something different. I’m just happy that I continued playing such great tennis.”

Alcaraz tends to have the support of the fans in every match he plays, but he is expecting a different reception as the Italian fans cheer on his biggest rival.

“It’s great facing Jannik. If it was someone else, I wouldn’t mind to be honest, but it’s great,” he added.

“I will try to approach the match in a different way. I know I have to play my A-game if I want to beat him, to win the tournament, so we both are going to have lift our level to the top which is going to be great for the fans, for the crowd.

“It’ll be like the Davis Cup. I think the whole stadium will be supporting him, which I have to be prepared for.

“I hope there are three or four friends who will be cheering for me and I will hear them more.

“It is going to be a fun and interesting atmosphere to play in just once.”

Alcaraz’s summation of his performance against Auger-Aliassime was not misplaced, as he was simply mesmeric in the opening set.

He offered up just two unforced errors as he attacked every ball with a relish that suggested he was living every second as he picked his opponent apart.

Auger-Aliassime was smiling as he sat down at the end of the opening set, as he knew he was powerless to stop the brilliance coming at him from all angles.

The Canadian got closer to Alcaraz in the second set, but the Spaniard always looked capable of flicking the switch and moving into GOAT mode and even though the Italian fans tried to lift Auger-Aliassime, this mismatch ended in double quick time.

Sinner looked unbeatable when he saw off De Minaur and then a few hours later, Alcaraz produced a display that suggested he is also on fire.

What a treat we have in store to conclude this ATP season, as the best two players on the planet end a year they have owned with the ultimate final showdown.

The post Carlos Alcaraz makes startling claim as he sets up Jannik Sinner ATP Finals showdown appeared first on Tennis365.

Emma Raducanu has been immersing herself in all things rugby in recent days and she could not stop smiling as she watched England’s impressive wins against the All Blacks from prime seats at Twickenham.

The 2021 US Open champion was invited into the England rugby camp to meet the players and deliver an inspirational talk prior to their mission to face the might All Blacks.

She clearly had a positive impact as England’s long wait for victory over New Zealand ended after they came from behind to crush seal a 33-19 with.

Raducanu was beaming with joy as she shook hands with England giant Maro Itoje as he collected the trophy at the end of the match, concluding a birthday week for the 23-year-old spent plenty of time around rugby players.

Her appearance at the England training base created plenty of headlines earlier this week, as she took part in a line-out drill with the England players.

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“I had a brief chat with Emma. It was very nice of her to come in. I know the squad appreciated having her here,” said Itoje as he was asked about Raducanu’s visit earlier this week.

“To be honest, I didn’t speak to her about anything performance-related, it was more just getting to know her, getting to understand where she’s at with her season, and she was asking similar questions with regard to where we are and what we’re doing.

“She was taken aback by the size of the weights in the gym, but it was nice to have her.”

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England coach Steve Borthwick said welcomed Raducanu’s visit to his camp as he said: “It’s just great having elite sports people come and visit us. Emma was talking to the players and sharing her experiences about preparing for the elite level of competition, which is terrific. People like her are always very welcome because we enjoy learning from others’ experience.

“I think the players were journalists in the rounds just talking in the contrast around individual preparation and a need to feel that everything is right and for a tennis player who is on their own out there on the court, individual preparation is everything.

“For a team sport member, it is always getting that balance but we still need to maximise that individual preparation.””

Raducanu sat alongside English actress Simone Ashley for the match at Twickenham, who is famous for her appearances in shows like the Netflix smash hit, Bridgerton.

British No 1 tennis star Raducanu is currently taking a break from the sport after a troubled end to her season saw her struggling to play in the burning heat in Asia.

She has come exhibition matches on her agenda of the next few weeks before flying to Australia next month to start her preparations for the first Grand Slam of 2026.

Raducanu is due to team up with British No 1 male player Jack Draper in the United Cup event before playing at the Australian Open.

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