Emma Raducanu has been putting in the hard work in the gym as it has resulted in an improvement in her movement on clay, according to Marion Bartoli as she also shared her thoughts on the world No 49’s coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey.
After exiting the Madrid Open in the second round, Raducanu has now gone one better at the Italian Open after getting the better of Jil Teichmann, winning 6-2, 6-2, at Foro Italico.
It is only the second time that the 22-year-old has reached the third round of one of the WTA 1000 clay-court events as she also made the round of 32 in Madrid in 2022.
Raducanu, though, will also be the first to admit that she has limited experience on clay as this is only her fifth main draw appearance at the Madrid-Rome swing.
But there has been a noticeable change in the way she is sliding on the surface, according to 2013 Wimbledon winner Bartoli.
“I think she’s moving better which is crucial on clay. The surface is lively and you’re sliding all over the place so you need to get your legs extremely strong,” she told Sky Sports Tennis.
“You need to feel the ground really well and when I look at her muscle from the lower body she has been really putting in the work in the gym, which is probably why she decided to take a break after Miami to get those hours in the gym to make sure she was physically ready for the clay and grass too.”
Raducanu has been working with Petchey since the Miami Open, but for now it remains an interim solution as he is not able to fill the role on a full-time basis due to his work as a television commentator.
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Petchey as well as long-term mentor Jane Donoghue are in her box in Rome and Bartoli explained why they are a perfect fit for the 22-year-old.
“Emma is probably looking for a coach who is not too technical,” the Frenchwoman said. “She will really need someone on the court with her every day if she wants to work on her technique. She’s probably wanting someone to explain to her how the tactics work for that specific opponent.
“They had to reposition her around the court because she had to cover the left side of the court [against Teichmann] so when you have the experience of someone as Mark, you can bring that on the table very quickly and sometimes that takes away the stress from the player.
“I think that’s what she’s looking for in that dynamic. She’s going to her box quite often with eye contact which means she trusts the people inside that box.”
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