Last year, during an interview with SkySports, the former British number one, Tim Henman, said, moving back inside the world’s top 30 is a “completely realistic“ target for Emma Raducanu in 2025. But that’s possibly only if she remains injury-free for most of the season. We’ve now already gone past the grass court and clay court swing in the 2025 season. How far has the Brit progressed so far this season? Well, Raducanu has already earned a spot inside the Top 50, and currently her win-loss record is 19-14. If we take a look at her performances in this season, her best result came at the Miami Open and HSBC Championships, where she reached the quarterfinals. But…
The biggest concern for Emma Raducanu so far has been her performances against the top players. For example, at the Italian Open, we saw her getting knocked out by Coco Gauff in straight sets, then at the French Open, Iga Swiatek outclassed her by 6-1,6-2. Even at the Queen’s, Qinwen Zheng defeated her in a similar fashion. So, speaking about these performances, Raducanu stated that she has now changed her goals, and her sole goal at the moment is to improve her game. “When I play those top players, I need to make it closer and feeling more competitive rather than just feeling, okay, I get to the third round of a Slam but then lose comfortably to one of the top players,” she admitted in a previous interview.
Even her coach, Mark Petchey, had admitted that she needs to close the gap between the best players. Amid all these, weeks after making an exit from her Home Slam at the hands of Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets, Emma Raducanu is now all set to take yet another top player, Naomi Osaka, in her second round match (R16) at the 2025 Citi Open. What does she have to say about her next opponent? After defeating Marta Kostyuk by 7-6(4),6-4 in the first round, she was asked if she’d be watching Naomi Osaka’s match against Yulia Putintseva in order to get an idea about their game ahead of her second-round match. Replying to that, Raducanu said that she will now have to take care of her own recovery process, but having said that, she assured that her teammates will be keeping a close eye on that match.
Raducanu believed that, irrespective of who the opponent will be in her next match, it’ll be a “tough” match. Later on, when the 2021 US Open champion came to know that she’ll have to face the four-time Grand Slam champion in her second round match, she said, “Yeah, it’ll be a really difficult match. I mean, she (Naomi Osaka) has three more than me, so she has got more experience in that. She’s really a dangerous opponent. Someone who’s playing very well this year. Had great results! So, I’m expecting a really difficult match, and I know I need to play really well if I want to get through that.“
WTA post match interview pic.twitter.com/Yva5m6Jbtu
— Raducanu News (@RaducanuNews) July 23, 2025
Emma Raducanu has never faced Naomi Osaka in her career as of now, and guess what? Osaka is entering the contest following her impressive 6-2,7-5 win over Putintseva. Both Osaka and Raducanu have struggled a bit recently with injuries and a lack of form, so both these players will be keen to prove their mettle yet again in this preparatory stage ahead of the 2025 US Open. What did the Japanese superstar say after her match, though?
Both Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka are quite excited to face each other
Emma Raducanu displayed a solid performance after her recent setback at Wimbledon. She took just 71 minutes to beat Kostyuk in her first-round match at the Citi Open. After the match, Raducanu said that she was happy with the way she fought through the first and the second set. With this incredible win, she has now moved up to number 41 in the live WTA Rankings, and guess what? If she wins her next match against Naomi Osaka, she will overtake Katie Boulter to reclaim the British number one crown!
This feat will also help her secure a seeding at the US Open. Speaking about her recent performances, Tim Henman recently claimed that he believes Emma Raducanu is now a “much better player” than she was in the year when she won her first major title (2021).
Now, coming back to her upcoming challenge, Emma Raducanu said, “I think it’s a great match for a lot of spectators, which is great to be a part of.” What does Osaka have to say about this contest?
After failing to impress her fans in the previous three majors, Naomi Osaka will be keen to deliver her best at what’s probably one of her favorite Grand Slam events. She tasted her first Grand Slam success at the US Open in 2018, and Osaka will be keen to get some wins under her belt before entering the battlefield in NY, and this tournament serves as a perfect preparatory stage for her as well.
Following her French Open exit earlier this year, Osaka raised quite a few eyebrows when she said that she hates disappointing people. Although she couldn’t do much in the grass court swing, she has gotten off to a stellar start at the North American hard court swing. Talking about her upcoming battle against Emma Raducanu, she said, “I would say I’m excited about it. I’ve never played her before, so for me, that’s something really cool too. Because I have seen her, I guess when she first did well at Wimbledon before she won the US Open, like moments like that, and I knew she was a good player. So I guess for our paths to finally cross is really cool.” Who do you think will have the last laugh in their first encounter?
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