Questions have regularly been raised about Emma Raducanu’s career. Is she a one-hit wonder? Will her rough patch ever be over? And there seems to be an answer finally. After her US Open victory in 2021, the Brit appears to be finally regaining her form. The 22-year-old tennis star battled injuries, coaching woes, and a traumatic stalker experience to progress to the third round of the Miami Open. That too by defeating the 8th seed in a thrilling Emma vs Emma clash. She beat Emma Navarro 7-6,2-6,7-6 to clinch a victory at a tournament where she had never won a match in the previous years. So it’s obvious that this moment is special for her.
Before the deciding set, things looked bleak when Raducanu called for a medical timeout due to foot blisters. However, she bounced back to win the third top-10 win of her career and the first outside of a grass court.
Talking about the match in a post-match conference she revealed the emotions that went through her after she hit a powerful forehand on her second match point. The World No. 60 said, “It was a lot of emotions when I won. I know I won the US Open, but I think having been through so much in the last few years, it’s like the wins now mean so much more.”
Raducanu even suggested that this win held more emotional weight than her US Open victory. She said, “Well, I mean, I would say not necessarily more in terms of magnitude, but I would say emotionally, just a lot more aware of all of the suffering as well, because, you know, when I won the US Open, I just won 10 matches in straight sets. It was, I mean, I didn’t have, like, the losses, the downs, the months of, like, losing streaks. I think to come out of it now, it does, yeah, I’d say it means a lot more than certain matches at the US Open, yeah.”
Raducanu says getting her 3rd top 10 win over Navarro in Miami meant more to her than some of the matches she won at the US Open, ‘When I won the US Open, I just won 10 matches in straight sets.. I didn’t have the losses, the downs’
“Your reaction at the end of that victory,… pic.twitter.com/xaRoTBdJin
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) March 23, 2025
The No.2 British tennis player had shocked everyone when she etched her name in history by winning the 2021 US Open as a qualifier. This win made her the only player in the Open era to win a Grand Slam singles title as a qualifier. However, just as she was being hailed as the next big thing, her struggles began. She struggled to replicate that same success as her form deserted her and injuries started haunting her. When Raducanu returned as the defending champion at Flushing Meadows, she faced a first-round heartbreak and then missed the entire tournament a year later in 2023 due to injuries. That year, she underwent surgeries on both hands and her ankle. When she made a comeback in 2024, she had dropped so far in the rankings that the former World No.10 was out of the top 300.
In 2024, Raducanu tried to rebuild her momentum but her performance was still marked by inconsistencies. The 22-year-old achieved her first top-10 victory against Jessica Pegula at Eastbourne. She also made it to the fourth round of Wimbledon, defeating Maria Sakkari, but was eliminated in the next round. But, the US Open—once her happy hunting ground—ended in disappointment as she suffered a first-round exit.
Her coaching woes have also contributed to her failing form. Raducanu has gone through seven coaches in four years and still finds herself without a coach at the Miami Open.
Emma Raducanu’s coaching woes continue at the Miami Open
Emma Raducanu had been without a coach since Nick Cavaday stepped down following the Australian Open. She had started a trial with Platenik just before Indian Wells, where she fell in the opening round to Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in straight sets. The plan was to continue working together until the French Open, but things didn’t go as expected.
Before heading to the Miami Open, she decided to part ways with Platenik. The Slovak coach later spoke to BBC Sport and pointed to “stress” and “pressure” as key reasons for their split. He also acknowledged that his candid interview with the Slovak publication Dennik N, where he described coaching Raducanu as “coaching suicide,” didn’t sit well with the Brit. “Emma is stressed also about the newspaper article, so the agent made this comment: ‘It’s maybe a little bit unfortunate, but I’m not angry,’” Platenik said.
With no official coach in her corner, Raducanu was seen alongside familiar faces at the Miami Open. Jane O’Donoghue, her long-time confidante, sat next to Collin Beecher, the LTA women’s national coach, and her full-time fitness trainer Yukata Nakamura. Despite the coaching uncertainty, Raducanu is set to face American tennis player McCartney Kessler in the third round on Sunday. Can Raducanu step up and secure a win as she regains her form? What do you think?
The post “Wins Now Mean So Much More”, Defeating American Emma Navarro Breaks Emma Raducanu’s “Months of Losing Streak” in an Exhilarating Victory at Miami Open appeared first on EssentiallySports.