Emma Raducanu adds Rafael Nadal’s former coach to her team ahead of US Open

British tennis star Emma Raducanu recently added Rafael Nadal’s former coach, Francisco Roig, to her team on a full-time basis. This addition happened a month before the US Open. 

Raducanu has been working with her British coach, Mark Petchey, on an unofficial basis ever since March, and this partnership has shown positive results in the athlete’s season performance. The 22-year-old athlete had difficulties with a coach in recent years until her part-time collaboration with Petchey, which successfully led her to the quarterfinals at the Miami Open last March, followed by a last-16 run at the Italian Open and last eight in the first women’s tournament at Queen’s Club this year. 

However, Petchey is unable to become Raducanu’s full-time coach due to his TV commitments. After having a trial with Roig following this year’s Wimbledon, Raducanu will then start working with him for the Cincinnati Open. The Spanish coach has worked with Rafael Nadal, together with Nadal’s uncle Toni, for the majority of the 22-time Grand Slam champion’s tennis career. Furthermore, he was part of Matteo Berrettini’s backroom staff. Roig agreed to a contract with Raducanu until the end of 2025. 

Raducanu to pair up with Alcaraz at the US Open

Young tennis stars, Alcaraz and Raducanu, were one of the exciting pairs for this season’s mixed doubles at the US Open. The pair will play on-court together for the very first time. 

With this, Alcaraz admitted: “She’s gonna be the boss… I’m super excited about it. I think it’s going to be great. It was an amazing idea for the tournament… I’ve known Emma for a really long time, so we know each other. I have a really good relationship with her. We are going to enjoy it, for sure.” 

The Spaniard added: “I will try to bring my doubles skill. We will try to win, but obviously it’s going to be really, really fun… I was thinking that I couldn’t play better unless it was with Emma. I just asked Emma if she wants to play doubles with me. Yeah, I made that special request.” 

With this partnership, Raducanu also expressed that Alcaraz was an inspiration to her: “I’ve known him for years, and actually in Wimbledon 2021 it was like kind of the first time I started getting to know him, and I had a good run there and then also again in the US Open in 2021… And I remember he was always playing the day before me, and I was playing like the second day of the round, and I would see him win, and then I would have motivation to win and get myself into that position too.” 

Read more about Raducanu and Alcaraz’s US mixed doubles partnership here and here.