Emma Raducanu has added Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francis Roig to her team on a full-time basis before this month’s US Open.
The 2021 winner at Flushing Meadows has been working with her fellow Briton Mark Petchey on an informal basis since March and enjoyed a positive run of results. However, Petchey’s TV commitments meant he was always unable to become Raducanu’s full-time coach.
After a trial with Roig, 57, following Wimbledon, the 22-year-old will begin work with him in Cincinnati this week after he agreed a contract until the end of 2025. The Spaniard worked alongside Nadal for 17 years.
Roig, left, worked alongside Nadal for many years and more recently was part of Berrettini’s backroom staff
MICHAEL REGAN/GETTY IMAGES
Raducanu has struggled to settle with a coach in recent years until her part-time work with Petchey started to pay dividends this season.
A WTA 1000 quarter-final showing at the Miami Open in March was followed by a round-of-16 run at the Italian Open before she made the last eight in the first women’s tournament at Queen’s Club.
Aryna Sabalenka proved too strong for Raducanu in the third round at Wimbledon, but this was backed up by a semi-final at the Citi Open as the British No1 targets a seeding at the US Open this month.
TV commentator Petchey, who worked with Andy Murray at the start of the Scot’s career, revealed in July that Raducanu would need to find a full-time coach soon and she has in Roig.
Petchey, left, said in July that Raducanu would need a full-time coach
MIKE EGERTON/PA
Spanish coach Roig worked with Nadal alongside Nadal’s uncle Toni for the majority of the 22-times grand-slam champion’s career and more recently was part of Matteo Berrettini’s backroom staff.
Raducanu will continue working with Petchey as well when his schedule allows but turns her focus back to securing a US Open seeding (she must be inside the world’s top 32; at present she is No33) with a strong display at the Cincinnati Open over the next fortnight.
The teenager Victoria Mboko continued her fairytale run at the Canadian Open as she breezed past Spain’s Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to reach the semi-finals.
Mboko has risen 280 places in the rankings this year
XINHUA/SHUTTERSTOCK
The 18-year-old Canadian, who knocked out two-times major winner Coco Gauff in the fourth round, impressed again on home soil with a 6-4, 6-2 win in Montreal.
Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, will not compete in Cincinnati — meaning he will head to New York for the US Open with no tennis under his belt since his run to the semi-final of Wimbledon.