Emma Raducanu’s former coach Mark Petchey has claimed that the star must “keep getting better” with her style of play and with her serving if she wants to get back into Grand Slam contention.
Former US Open champion Raducanu won her first matches in New York since her stunning 2021 triumph this summer, beating qualifiers Ena Shibahara and Janice Tjen with two convincing displays in her opening matches at Flushing Meadows.
However, the 22-year-old was then handed a tough reminder of just how difficult it will be to start going deep at Grand Slams once again, the Brit winning just three games to ninth seed and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the third round.
Despite the heavy defeat to Rybakina, there have undoubtedly been positives for Raducanu this summer, with the Brit back inside the top 40 of the WTA Rankings.
Currently ranked 34th in the world, she will look to surge further up the rankings over the remaining two months of the 2025 tennis season, starting at the Korea Open next week.
And, speaking to tennis betting site BetVictor, Petchey — who coached Raducanu briefly in 2020, before a spell as her coach this spring and summer — believes she will have learnt plenty from her loss to Rybakina.
“What it said to me is everything that I hope people can see about Emma’s style of play,” commented Petchey.
“We’re in an era of big hitters. We talk about the pace of shots, from both [Aryna] Sabalenka and [Amanda] Anisimova.
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“From Emma’s point of view, her best style of winning matches is up on the baseline redirecting the ball, moving it around, trying to get the opponent to move before they get a chance to set on the ball.
“That’s obviously something that she’s going to have to keep getting better at.
“She can’t get taller; she’s not going to suddenly have a Rybakina serve that’s going to get her as many free points.
“But that serve can get more accurate, it can get her set up to play a little bit better as time goes by.
“But it’s one of those matches which just goes to show you know that it’s not going to be easy to win another Major.
“But that’s what’s going to be so satisfying when she finally does. These big hitters, these power players that make life difficult for her, where they do rush her, are going to make things tricky for her.
“But it’s just motivation for her to keep working on the things that she has been doing.”
After the Korea Open, Raducanu will likely head to play WTA 1000 events in Beijing and Wuhan, before finishing her season in Asia.
The Brit made a surprise decision to pull out of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen and instead play in the upcoming WTA 500 event in Seoul, which starts next week.
Raducanu was a quarter-finalist in Seoul last year, winning two matches before retiring against Daria Kasatkina due to injury.
That was the final official WTA event of the season for Raducanu twelve months ago, meaning she will have the opportunity to gain significant points and move back up the world rankings.
Read Next: 2025 Korea Open entry list, prize money, points, draw date: Swiatek, Raducanu lead field
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