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Emma Raducanu claims she can ‘become one of the best athletes’ after employing new fitness coach


Emma Raducanu has hired fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura, with the Brit revealing her goal to become ‘one of the best athletes’ on the WTA Tour.

Raducanu has struggled with fitness since winning the US Open back in 2021, including spending eight months out of action last year after undergoing surgeries to both wrists and her left ankle.

The 22-year-old also had to miss most of the recent Asian swing due to a foot problem, and has now employed Nakamura to improve her durability.

Nakamura has previously worked with the likes of Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka, with Raducanu telling the media what she hopes to get out of this new working relationship.

“I think he is going to help me just really explore how far I can go, athletically,” said Raducanu. “I think it’s a big strength of mine that I have nowhere near fulfilled. I think I can become one of the best athletes out there in tennis, and I’m just looking forward to seeing how much I can do.

“And I think he’s really going to help with that. And the way I’m working with him and Nick [Cavaday], it’s a lot more integrated.”

Raducanu will still be working with head coach Nick Cavaday in 2025 alongside Nakamura, beginning her season at the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland.

The World No.59 is set to head down under on Thursday 12th December, but has explained why she is going to Brisbane to train and not Auckland.

“I had a bit of a different pre-season this year because I was injured earlier, and I did a lot of training. So I just want to get out in the heat a bit earlier,” said Raducanu. “And it makes sense to go all the way rather than go somewhere and then come back and then fly out again.

“I didn’t want to go straight to Auckland because if you get to a tournament too early, you kind of get a bit stale before the match. So I wanted to go there and it’s like tournament time. I still wanted the heat, so I’m going to go to Brisbane for a week.”

Raducanu will begin her 2025 season at the Auckland Open for a third consecutive year, with the tournament getting underway on 30th December.

Inside the baseline…

This seems like a sensible move from Emma Raducanu, employing a well-respected name in a field that she has struggled with in recent years. Raducanu has shown some real positive signs in the second half of this season, including two top 10 wins, so hopefully that will continue. It is also a positive sign that Raducanu is going down under early to acclimatise to the hot conditions, as the Brit looks to play more tournaments in 2025 than the 13 she did this year.

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.