Former World No. 1 'So Frustrated' By Emma Raducanu's Scheduling Decisions
NewsWednesday, 16 April 2025 at 13:01
Emma Raducanu has not played a match since last month's 2025 Miami Open, and Andy Roddick is perplexed by that decision.
Raducanu produced some of her best tennis since winning the 2021 US Open in Miami. She defeated Sayaka Ishii, Emma Navarro, McCartney Kessler, and Amanda Anisimova to reach her first WTA 1000 quarterfinal.
The 22-year-old also fought bravely against Jessica Pegula despite feeling unwell from the second set onwards. Raducanu took the match to a decider by winning a tiebreak, but the task proved too challenging in the end.
Rather than try to build on that success immediately by playing more tournaments, Raducanu skipped the last three weeks of action, including the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers and this week's events in Stuttgart and Rouen.
Roddick does not think that is the right approach. In an episode of his podcast, the 2003 US Open champion outlined his frustration with Raducanu's decision-making despite trying to understand her reasons.
"She just found her form… why is she recalibrating? What does that mean? She looked great. She looked like a top 10 player in Miami. Why stop now? I get so frustrated. I’m such a fan of hers. I like listening to her reasoning on things, but you get to the quarter-finals, you are finally getting momentum and then you stop."
"Why put a speed bump in the middle of your season? It just happens over and over. You got to the quarters, let’s build. Let’s keep it rolling. I don’t think clay is going to be her best surface, but she is really good on grass. Let’s hope she sticks to the strategy this time."
Roddick and others voiced similar concerns when Raducanu did not play any tournaments in the weeks before the 2024 US Open despite seeming to have momentum from reaching the 2024 Citi Open quarterfinal.
The former world No. 1 also gave his opinion on Raducanu being in talks with his Tennis Channel colleague Mark Petchey about a coaching role. Roddick believes he is a good choice and hopes Raducanu gives the partnership time to work if an agreement is reached.
"Petchey is a great fit. I love Mark Petchey. He has a great tennis game and he is endlessly curious about the game. But based on the churn, she hires people for two days at a time, three weeks at a time. She needs Petchey now. It’s tough to enter into a new agreement and give up whatever else you have going on in life knowing this could be a two-week situation."
"You are narrowing the pool of coaching talent based on you having this quick trigger on firing people. That’s rational right? I don’t think you can get any feedback [on a new coach] on an eight-day trial. I don’t even know what you are doing. It’s the craziest thing I’ve heard since the [Denver] Nuggets sacked Mike Malone."
"I hope it all works with Petchey. I hope she gives a coaching relationship a chance to sink it. She is just so good for the game and she is so good at tennis. The last thing we want is in four years time having the same conversation that we’ve had for the last three and a half years."
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