Emma Raducanu Appoints Rafael Nadal's Former Team Member As New Coach

Emma Raducanu has started another new coaching relationship after hiring a long-serving member of Rafael Nadal's team during his illustrious career.

The Briton started the 2025 season with Nick Cavaday, her childhood coach. They also worked together last year and built a close bond, but Cavaday stepped away from the role after the 2025 Australian Open.

After an unsuccessful two-week trial period with Vladimir Platenik, Raducanu worked with Mark Petchey, one of Andy Murray's former coaches, on a provisional basis. During his time in her box, she reached the 2025 Miami Open quarterfinal.

Although Raducanu enjoyed working with Petchey, his broadcast commitments meant the arrangement was always planned to be temporary. He might collaborate with her again in the future.

After much speculation about her next move since exiting the 2025 Wimbledon Championships to WTA world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the second round, Raducanu's new high-profile coach has been revealed.

Raducanu will work with Francisco Roig until at least the end of this season, starting immediately. He was one of Nadal's secondary coaches from 2005 to 2022, and his importance to the tennis legend often slipped under the radar.

Roig became a sole coach for the first time during a spell with Matteo Berrettini from December 2023 to October 2024. Their first professional match as a partnership was not until March because of the Italian's injury issues.

During the seven months Berrettini played matches with Roig in his team, he won three titles on clay: the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech, the Swiss Open in Gstaad, and the Kitzbuhel Open.

After working for so long with the greatest clay-court player ever, Berrettini thriving on clay was not very surprising. The 29-year-old did not have the same success on other surfaces, but Roig might have hoped to develop that with him over a more extended period.

Berrettini winning three titles under Roig's guidance meant many were surprised when they parted ways last October. The 57-year-old did more than enough in that spell with Berrettini to prove he is a good coach.

Despite being just 22, Raducanu has already had many coaches. After collaborating with Nigel Sears for three months, she fired him and appointed Andrew Richardson for the 2021 North American hard-court swing after the 2021 Wimbledon Championships.

Raducanu and Richardson achieved a miracle together when she won the 2021 US Open as an 18-year-old qualifier without dropping a set. That will always be remembered as one of the most unexpected moments in tennis history.

There was widespread astonishment when Raducanu split with Richardson afterward. She then worked with Torben Beltz, Dimitry Tursunov, and Sebastian Sachs before the period with Cavaday for slightly over 12 months.

Raducanu's clay-court game has the potential to develop with Roig, but she will not play on that surface again until April. The former Grand Slam winner thinks Roig can help her on hard courts until the end of this season, and then they will decide whether to extend the partnership.