Emma Raducanu has been told by a former British player that her career-best ranking was an “outlier” as a result of her shock US Open title win.
The 22-year-old peaked at world No 10 in the WTA Rankings in July 2022 nine months after she won the US Open as an 18-year-old qualifier in 2021.
Raducanu is currently ranked 33th, which is her highest ranking position since the points from her triumph at the New York Grand Slam dropped in September 2022.
The Brit reached the semi-finals at the WTA 500 tournament in Washington in both singles and doubles to continue her positive form since adding Mark Petchey to her coaching team in March.
Raducanu defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse in her opening match at the WTA 1000 event in Montreal on Monday.
Barry Cowan backed Raducanu’s move to play doubles in Washington as he also set her the target of being seeded at the US Open.
“I think that [playing doubles] is also important, because ultimately, the age she’s at, her game, she should be looking to try and improve it week in, week out, and try and close that gap,” the Brit told Tennishead.
“She is not, right now, a top 10 player, a top 20 player. I know she was, but it was kind of the outlier because of what she did at the US Open. So I totally disregard what happened previously with her ranking.
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“And you know, right now, if she were to get a seeded position for the US Open, given where she was at the start of the year, I would say she’s absolutely ahead of probably where she was eight months ago.”
Cowan shared his thoughts on the frequent coaching changes Raducanu made in her career prior to her collaboration with Petchey.
“Well, the thing with Raducanu is, personally, and I’ve said this openly, that she’s trying to go against history,” he continued.
“I believe in history, and history will tell us that players of that age, the development age between 19 and 23, I think you need a consistent message. I think you need the same coach.
“Now, sometimes that’s not always possible. So there’s no point sticking with a coach for a year or two or three if, literally, you hate each other, there’s no chemistry, but ideally, you do want that period where it’s a consistent message.
“Now, what I’ve tried to understand — it’s her end of it, and she has always believed, you know, right from very young age, from the juniors, and obviously going through the US Open, which she won — she’s believed in having coaches for a short period of time, getting the information from that coach and then moving on. My view is, you’re going against history.”
The former world No 162 added: “I do think she’s had a really good year. I think she’s built momentum.
“I think that, you know, forget those big matches. Forget the [Iga] Swiatek in Australia, [Iga] Swiatek at the French and [Aryna] Sabalenka at Wimbledon. I thought she played very well at Wimbledon, and so many other bigger matches that she’s played.
“I think what you’re looking at from Raducanu is ideally you’re seeing that improvement in the lower-tier tournaments. I know she’s done everything upside down. She’s won the major before winning on the tour.
“But I do feel that these tournaments in Washington, like Eastbourne in the week before Wimbledon, like some of the other tournaments leading into the Masters and the majors, I think those are the tournaments where she’s got to be looking — if she is going to get to the top ten, top 20 — those are the tournaments she needs to be looking to convert those into semi-finals, finals and wins. And as of yet, she hasn’t had that.”
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