Raducanu Building Herself Into A Better Player One Week At A Time

Emma Raducanu
Emma Raducanu (photo: Wick Photography/Mubadala Citi DC Open)

WASHINGTON, August 2, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Ask Emma Raducanu and she will tell you that each time she gets to play against a quality opponent such as Aryna Sabalenka or Naomi Osaka, it’s a great test of her own game and of herself.

Since the beginning of the grass-court season in June, the 33rd-ranked Raducanu has gone 10-5 and seen her WTA Ranking improve to No. 33 this week after starting the North American hard-court swing in Washington, D.C. ranked 46th.

The current British No. 1 was a quarterfinalist at Queen’s Club, reached the third round at Wimbledon and was a semifinalist at the Mubadala Citi DC Open last week. Among her wins, the 22-year-old Raducanu defeated 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the second round at The Championships before losing to Sabalenka, then strung together consecutive victories over Marta Kostyuk, Naomi Osaka and Maria Sakkari at the DC Open.

Raducanu competed this week at the WTA 1000 Omnium Banquet Nationale in Montreal, Quebec, where she reached the third round following wins over Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Peyton Stearns before bowing to World No. 7 Amanda Anisimova, 6-2, 6-1, in 64 minutes Friday evening, which prevented her from achieving a fourth career Top-10 victory. It followed her semifinal finish in Washington, D.C. last week. After losing to Anisimova for the first time in three career head-to-head meetings after earlier wins this season at the Australian Open and Miami Open, her win-loss record this season stands at 23-16.

In the buildup before Raducanu defeated Osaka, 6-4, 6-2, last week at the DC Open, the 5-foot-7-inch Canadian-born Raducanu was asked to describe what kind of similarities or differences she saw with her journey and the four-time major champion Osaka’s.

“I think you know, different, because, when I won my US Open, I came from school, I was no one, I was [No.] 200 in the world, and Naomi had already won Indian Wells,” the former World No. 10 Raducanu recalled. “She was already a known figure on the tour, and people kind of expected, okay, like, she’s going to start doing well and start winning slams.

“Whereas, I think when I won, it was completely out of nowhere. It means that I didn’t quite build the foundations she had when she won her Grand Slams, which I think is why she was able to repeat and win another three, you know, back-to-back US Open and Australia.

“I think she was an established pro tour player, whereas, I didn’t necessarily feel that way. It’s probably why I had a lot more dips afterwards.

“But yeah, it’s good to see the similarities now. I think we have both kind of started doing better and started enjoying the process more and enjoying developing. Yeah, I think it’s nice that after having such big highs and then some lows to both be working towards, you know, going up again.

“I quite like these kinds of matchups where you’re playing a great opponent, a lot of people have eyes on the match, they’re into it. I enjoy it. I’m just pleased with how I was able to navigate playing a four-time slam champ.”

Raducanu was asked after her win over Osaka what she considers the biggest area of improvement for her in the past couple of months. She responded that she’s been “just doing a lot of work consistently, just putting a lot of tennis in.

“Sometimes, even if you don’t feel good when you’re practicing because you’re doing a lot of hours and you don’t feel like you’re really pushing, it’s all kinds of hours banked,” she said.

“I’m also doing, I think, a lot more focused work, and also, I think I’m serving better, and that helps a lot. I think I always returned pretty decent, but the element of just when I serve well, it does add another dimension to my game. I’m able to kind of start the points better and look for my forehand get that into play a bit more and then dictate.”

Raducanu, who reached the semifinals in Washington, D.C., before losing to Anna Kalinskaya in the semifinals last Saturday, said regardless of the results, she feels she’s doing the right things. “I’m banking so many good days in a row and trying to keep a streak going,” she said. “It’s working really well. It takes a bit of pressure off the immediate result in the matches. …

“I’m just minimizing the amount of time that I kind of go down or go into myself. I think I have done a really good job of that, and that’s my main object now, because the results are so fleeting. Even if you win the US Open, you’re great for about a few days, and then straight back to it, straight back to work.

“Yeah, it’s such an unforgiving schedule that there is a tournament every single week. Even if you win a Grand Slam and you lose, you know, because you’re tired the next week, you still feel back because you lost.”

Looking back, Raducanu said Washington, D.C., the U.S. capital city, is one which she thoroughly enjoys and embraces each time she returns. The London resident enjoys hanging out in Georgetown and loves the European feel of the city. This was her third time playing in the DC Open, where she has fared no worse that reaching the quarterfinals.

“It’s a city that I really enjoying coming back to and one on the calendar that I’m really excited for,” she said. “Mark Ein (the tournament owner) does a great job for the players. I have know him for many years now, and he goes above and beyond for all of us to make sure that we are comfortable and everything is right. Yeah, that helps. …

“I love this city in particular. I think there’s so much greenery. There are so many nice museums. But it’s important to, as you say, build a home in these cities, because we’re on the road for six, seven weeks at a time, and if you just stick to your hotel room, it can get very difficult and tiresome. So, you need to create these pockets of normality and also enjoy these cities.

“Because people come to D.C., for example, on a holiday, and they go and like visit the museums and I’m in the city doing what I love and I have spare time. So when I do, I try and go and do the same things, and it makes me a lot more relaxed, makes me happier, and I found that I perform better as well when I’m having a better balance of switching on and also switching off.”

With the US Open just a few weeks away, Raducanu was asked if having won a major – she won the 2021 US Open as an 18-year-old qualifier – completes the building of a foundation, especially now that she’s been on tour for a few years and has had a chance to become a more competitive player. Not to mention, Raducanu is playing healthy after being sidelined by injuries that required multiple surgeries and cost her portions of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.  “I don’t think it’s been built,” she said. “I still think I’m building it, but I feel positive because I’m actually building it in a consistent way.

“I feel like, okay, the way I’m going, like it’s going towards having – you’re never really fully complete but a more complete foundation, and I’ll be more solid and have a higher base level, so I think I’m working towards that now. 

“I think I’m just doing it in a better way. I’m a lot more content, more relaxed. I’m less kind of volatile, I guess, in general. I’m working in a really good way and just excited to kind of keep this and try and win as many days as I can.”

 

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