Emma Raducanu is set to end her season early due to illness after a fraught month in the Far East and will miss tournaments in Tokyo and Hong Kong as a result.
Raducanu has received medical attention in both of her last two matches, retiring injured against Ann Li in Wuhan and then losing from a set up to world No 219 Zhu Lin in Ningbo.
The i Paper understands Raducanu has been battling illness for the last 10 days but was determined to play through it. However, brutal conditions in south-east China – play in Wuhan was suspended at one point due to extreme heat – has not helped her efforts.
In better news, it is understood that Raducanu has agreed to extend her deal with Francis Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach, into next season after a successful four-month trial.
But her early finish to 2025 is a sour note on which to end a year of real ups and downs.
Rollercoaster ride
Raducanu crashed out of the Australian Open with a heavy defeat to Iga Swiatek (Photo: Getty)Her difficult 2025 started with a bad end to 2024: she had best-laid plans to fly out to Brisbane in mid-December, spend Christmas in Auckland and play two warm-up tournaments before the Australian Open. But back spasms badly disrupted her pre-season training, and none of that happened.
Instead, she arrived in Melbourne without a match under her belt – and the back issues have been a recurring theme of her season, often receiving treatment on court for the issue during matches.
Australia highlighted one of Raducanu’s other problems which has only been reinforced this year. She was knocked out by Iga Swiatek, a chastening 6-1, 6-0 defeat.
In fact, Australia was a succinct microcosm of her season, with its fraught preparation, heavy defeat to a top-10 player, rounded off by splitting with her coach.
The departure of Nick Cavaday was a blow. He wanted to continue in some capacity but simply could not commit to a full tour schedule.
Cavaday would have been an invaluable shoulder to cry on during the Middle East swing that followed, where Raducanu was appointing locum coaches week to week, while also enduring a harrowing stalker ordeal that culminated in her being followed by paparazzi at the airport during a tearful reunion with her father.
The summer got marginally better, but only just. She lost another coach in fitness guru Yutaka Nakamura, there was the awkward balancing act with coach/commentator Mark Petchey and her failure to beat a top-10 player – bar a win over Emma Navarro in Miami, she lost to 10 others – persisted.
Now she ends her season with just one semi-final appearance in Washington as her best result, and having won just two matches post-US Open in what was supposed to be six-tournament swing in the Far East.
Reason to be cheerful No 1
Raducanu has risen up the rankings in 2025 (Photo: Getty)It is not all doom and gloom, though. Yes, Raducanu has still not won a regular tour title and her US Open trophy in 2021 still stands alone in her trophy cabinet. But she has worked her way back up the world rankings from 58, where she ended last season, to 29 in the world.
She is British No 1 again, and could feasibly hold onto a place in the top 32 and be seeded when the Australian Open swings around in January. That would ease her path to the second week, which still remains virgin territory for her in Melbourne.
Reason to be cheerful No 2
Despite all the turmoil, Raducanu has managed to get on court this season more than ever before. Her defeat to Zhu in Ningbo, disappointing as it was, signified her 50th outing of the calendar year, making 2025 her busiest campaign of her professional career by a margin of 14 matches.
Her 28 wins are a high watermark too, and while not at as strong a ratio as she would like, it does fulfil one of Raducanu’s ongoing goals to be far more active on the tour.
Reason to be cheerful No 3
And don’t underestimate the value of having done a deal with Roig at this point.
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In previous years, uncertainty over the future of Raducanu’s coaching situation has often continued throughout pre-season – and it is still not clear who the permanent replacement for Nakamura might be or whether Jerome Poupel, a chiropractor who joined her at Wimbledon and the US Open, could be a regular employee.
But a deal with the Spaniard Roig at this stage means he can plan her pre-season in full and continue to build trust with a player who values that word so highly.
It has been far from the perfect year for Raducanu. But there are just about enough green shoots to be optimistic going forward.
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