This month’s “Sunshine Swing” in the United States has shown what an exciting time this is for British tennis.
Jack Draper reached new heights by winning the Indian Wells Open to climb to No7 in the world, while Emma Raducanu reminded us all of the talent she possesses with a quarter-final appearance at the Miami Open that ranks as her best since that memorable US Open triumph in 2021. There is no doubt that players feed off the success of compatriots and I think we have seen that here.
Only a year apart, with Draper aged 23 and Raducanu 22, they have often looked to each other as they have progressed in their respective careers. Draper made it clear that Raducanu’s US Open victory acted as motivation for him to work hard and push up towards the top of the sport, and recently it has been Raducanu’s turn to gain inspiration from a friend on the tour.
Watching Raducanu breeze through to the last eight in Florida, I could not believe the difference in a player who looked as if she had little to no confidence just a few weeks ago. Her first-round win against Sayaka Ishii, the world No188 who frankly struggled to hit the ball in the court, ignited a level of play that I believe was higher than her run to grand-slam glory at Flushing Meadows.
When Raducanu plays like that it is phenomenal to watch as she barely misses a ball. There were so few unforced errors across her matches in Miami that it reminded me of Andy Murray when he went into that mode in which the opponent had to work so hard to win a point. Mentally it imposes so much pressure on the opponents and you could see this getting into their heads to the point where they could not compete.
Raducanu has made several references over the past week and a half to the free spirit she feels when she is relaxed, and this was evident on the court. The way she glides with her movement, the tidiness of her game and how these two elements make everything flow is so beautiful to watch. It reminds me of Evonne Goolagong Cawley, the former world No1 from Australia who won Wimbledon in 1971 and 1980, whose fluid style made the sport look so easy at times. Watching this makes you want to play tennis because it looks so neat and effortless.
The serve was much improved. Having been such a problem in her previous tournaments this season, suddenly it turned into a weapon here. The accuracy was phenomenal and the motion so steady and stable that her opponents were unsure as to which direction the ball was going.
Raducanu’s returning in Miami was up there with the best on tour right now. The depth and quality of it stressed her opponents to such an extent that they would miss more first serves. This would then give Raducanu more of a look at a shorter and slower second serve, which she would absolutely annihilate in response. It was quite something to witness.
You may be surprised by this but I also genuinely think Raducanu is one of the best volleyers in the game. Yes, she is not a player who is constantly attacking the net at any opportunity but when she does come forward she rarely misses a volley. It reminds me of Rafael Nadal, who was so underrated at the net because of his baseline style, but whose success rate was so high when he ventured forward. I would not be surprised if we saw Raducanu up there more in the future, particularly on a grass court.
A question mark for me is still the physical side. There can be sudden drop-offs, as we saw in the second sets against both Emma Navarro and Jessica Pegula. However, the work is clearly still in progress on this front with her fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura and the niggles of the past do not seem to be so regular now. There was also much to admire in the way Raducanu battled through these issues and left it all out there on the court.
It is a shame that this is Raducanu’s final hard-court tournament for four months as the season now transitions to clay. Just when she was building momentum it will now feel like a sudden change-up in which she has to reset and adjust to the very different conditions. The slower surface makes the points more gruelling, requiring greater endurance and increased patience. The strike zone is also different as the ball bounces higher.
They say that clay will find you out and Raducanu still did not look completely comfortable on it last year. It was strange as she made such a good start by winning two matches for Great Britain away to France in a Billie Jean King Cup qualifier before reaching the quarter-finals of the Stuttgart Grand Prix. But a poor first-round defeat at the Madrid Open to María Lourdes Carlé, an Argentinian qualifier then ranked No82, derailed this progress and she decided to skip French Open qualifying in favour of preparations for the grass season.
While this helped Raducanu go on to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon, perhaps it would be best not to repeat this schedule. Having built up momentum with four consecutive wins I am not sure it is the time to have an extended period of absence from the tour. She needs to keep building from the launchpad she created in Miami with that ignition of confidence.
The build-up to Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier in the Netherlands on April 11-12 provides the ideal clay-court training camp for Raducanu with her friends and team-mates. As we saw last year she thrives in the pressure of that team environment in which you are playing for something bigger than your own individual goals. She is also a player so talented that she quickly learns whatever she is told on any surface.
There is also a decision to be made on the coaching front. Familiar faces in Mark Petchey and Jane O’Donoghue, who both worked with Raducanu during her teens, were relied upon on a temporary basis in Miami but stability is now needed moving forward into a potentially tricky period on the clay.
The sudden end of Raducanu’s trial with Vladimir Platenik after only two weeks shows what Raducanu is looking for. While there were some technical benefits from their brief time together, their personalities clearly did not match. The next appointment is about hiring someone who can also offer support on the road in life as well as tennis. This is as important as the drills and tactics.
Raducanu has been understandably criticised throughout her career for chopping and changing her coaches but she has never been afraid to trust her instinct. Abruptly cutting the cord with Platenik was a ruthless choice that ultimately paid off in Miami and I am now fascinated to see what her next chess move is.
