Emma Raducanu is back at the tournament where her greatest career triumph took place.
In 2021 the British number one made history at the US Open when she lifted the title as a qualifier without dropping a set.
No other player has pulled such a miraculous feat, which is even more remarkable given Emma Raducanu was just 18 at the time and was playing in the main draw at Flushing Meadows for the first time.
Four years later the 22-year-old returned to New York with a new coach in a bid to attain more success at the US Open, the fourth and final major of the season.
Photo by Daniel Kopatsch/Getty ImagesEmma Raducanu says she needs ‘more time’ with new coach Francisco Roig
Raducanu has been through a plethora of coaches since her stunning 2021 US Open victory.
For most of the year she was coached by fellow Brit Mark Petchey, with whom she improved her level. But the 55-year-old was unable to travel with her full-time due to his commentary commitments.
But Raducanu is now working with Francisco Roig, who was part of Rafael Nadal’s team for a number of years. He has been part of her team since the Cincinnati Open.
After Raducanu reached the Citi Open semifinals she pushed Aryna Sabalenka all the way in Ohio before losing the final set tiebreak.
The world number 35 seems to be responding well to Roig so far, but on the eve of the US Open, she told reporters that she still needs more time to work with the Spaniard and adopt his methods.
“I think we’re working a lot on the court, putting a lot of hours in. He loves spending time on court, as well. But we find a good balance. It’s not all just serious,” she said.
“Also time passes so fast, which is a good sign whenever you’re spending time with someone. Overall, I think just working on the quality of my shots and improving them. So I think so far it’s been going pretty well, but I need more time, for sure.”
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty ImagesEmma Raducanu explains how Francisco Roig became her new coach
Though she came up short, Raducanu produced one of the performances of her career against Sabalenka at Wimbledon.
She served for the first set in their third round encounter and went up a break in the second, but ultimately Sabalenka beat Raducanu 7-6, 6-4.
The former top 10 player thinks that performance helped her case in bringing Roig on board, and she stressed of going into the US Open with a full-time coach.
“After Wimbledon, I always knew Mark helped me so much over the last few months since Miami, but we always knew it was going to be difficult to keep things going forward with his commitments and everything,” Raducanu said.
“After Wimbledon, it was quite a good match with Aryna. I think quite a lot of people watched it. I think it helped my case, so I’m happy about that (smiling).
“After that, I just asked Jill, who is looking after me, and I was, like, Oh, do we have any more ideas? Because ideally I wanted to come into the U.S. swing knowing I had someone in a coach. That’s how it happened.
“We arranged a few days before I came out to America. Yeah, it went well, but he couldn’t start until Cincy. Since then we have been practicing and working well.”