Emma Raducanu: Commentator Jonathan Overend explains why 2026 might maintain ‘one thing particular’ for the British No 1

Might 2026 maintain one thing particular for Emma Raducanu? Commentator Jonathan Overend explains why there may be trigger for optimism for the British No 1.

Raducanu had hoped to place collectively a powerful end to 2025 to ensure herself a seeding on the Australian Open in January however as a substitute introduced an early finish to her season following bodily struggles in China.

The 22-year-old had been resulting from play in subsequent week’s Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo after which the Hong Kong Open starting on October 27, however has determined to give attention to restoration after feeling unwell.

It has been an up-and-down season for Raducanu who gained solely three matches earlier than the Miami Open in mid-March, however a short lived teaching association with Mark Petchey bore rapid fruit as she reached her first WTA 1000 quarter-final earlier than Spaniard Francisco Roig took over in time for the US Open.

That heralded a positive spring and summer season, with Raducanu constantly profitable matches and practically halving her rating.

Nevertheless, she gained simply two matches in 4 tournaments in Asia, shedding from match factors up in opposition to each Barbora Krejcikova and Jessica Pegula.

Raducanu could have performed sufficient to be seeded in Melbourne, boosting her probabilities of avoiding the form of attracts she has confronted at Grand Slams this season, and he or she has given herself a very good platform to construct from.

Chatting with Sky Sports activities, commentator Jonathan Overend mirrored on Raducanu’s season and pinpointed the areas of her sport she wants to enhance as a way to goal a profitable 2026.

“The challenges for Raducanu this year have been pretty obvious,” he mentioned. “Getting over the line and beating top-10 players remains a problem, staying fully fit and well, because the back has been an issue and towards the end of the year she had this period of illness which prevented her from competing as she would like in Asia.

“She’ll clearly be disillusioned at not having the ability to win another level in these tight matches in opposition to Krejcikova and Pegula. Higher gamers than Emma Raducanu have misplaced from match level up and it hurts, nevertheless it additionally demonstrates that you’re ready to get wins in opposition to prime gamers and he or she proved that in the summertime with these two matches in opposition to Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon and Cincinnati.

“It’s those two matches which give the most cause for optimism moving towards 2026. She absolutely looked like a top-20 player and a top-10 challenger. She has to believe those days can happen all the time.”

Critically spectacular rankings soar

Raducanu is ready to show 23 in November having jumped up the rankings from exterior 300 at first of 2024 to inside the highest 30 coming in direction of the tip of 2025.

“If you take away everything else around Raducanu – the extraordinary Grand Slam fairytale, the hype, the enormous focus and interest there is. For any player at that age to make that ranking leap is seriously impressive,” mentioned Overend.

“Outside 300 in the world, double wrist surgery, into the top 30 inside two years before turning 23? Any player, you would say, that’s amazing! The fact it’s Emma Raducanu obviously means the conversation is very different because of what she has achieved before that and the expectation that comes with it, which is why I’m always enormously reluctant to compare this Raducanu to the fairytale Raducanu who won the US Open at the age of 18.

“You virtually wish to disregard the achievement as a result of in telling the story it distorts the fact of the progress that she has made within the final two years.”

What if Raducanu’s US Open success was all a dream?

“Let’s say that didn’t happen – it was all a dream! Let’s say Raducanu went to college in America, took a business degree, played some college tennis and turned pro at 21 but had massive issues with her wrist, had double wrist surgery, was struggling to get back on the tour, was outside 300 in the world, but within two years had made top 30. It would just be a brilliant trajectory,” Overend added.

“So it’s really important everybody sees it in that context and that she sees that context and sees the progress that she has made, and I’m sure she does.”

Raducanu retired in the course of the second set of her conflict in opposition to Ann Li in Wuhan final week with dizziness in scorching and humid temperatures, and later posted an image on social media of herself at a physician’s workplace.

She mentioned she felt higher and selected to play the Ningbo Open however was clearly not 100 per cent and once more misplaced her opening match.

Raducanu gained the primary set in opposition to Zhu Lin however seemed torpid within the second and had her blood strain checked, whereas she struggled with a recurrence of lower-back points within the decider and was barely transferring by the tip.

“There are issues with the back which remains a nagging complaint at times. The illness during the Asia swing was clearly bad timing but it was quite worrying to see her so dizzy. But if she keeps working with the right people, working on her health and fitness, then she’s going to head in the right direction,” mentioned Overend.

Which areas of her sport can Raducanu enhance?

When it comes to her sport, Overend feels there are nonetheless areas she will enhance below the steerage of Rafael Nadal’s former coach Roig.

“She’s done a lot of work on the serve which is noticeable and does have a bit more pop on it. It is a bit more consistent with the first delivery, getting those numbers up,” he mentioned. “To me, it’s the response when the return comes back because the best players in the world can do so much damage with that first hit on return. It can be back at you before you know it and that was exposed during the [Elena] Rybakina humbling at the US Open and I think she knows that is an area that needs improvement.

“It is that response time, it is that footwork after dropping down from serve. It is simply typically being ready for one thing that’s coming at you faster than ever and that’s solely going to come back quicker.

“Coach Francisco Roig will have loads of methods to try to work on that. I’m sure it’s high on that agenda.”

The one method is up

Raducanu gained 28 matches this yr and reached the semi-finals in Washington, however she excelled on the Miami Open in March, reaching the quarter-finals, beating eighth-seed Emma Navarro earlier than shedding to former US Open finalist Jessica Pegula.

“Another problem has been how some close matches have disappeared from her very rapidly. I think it’s the inevitable let down of missing match points. It’s hard to recover from when you’ve been one point away from winning the match. How do you shut away that disappointment and move on?” mentioned Overend.

“The reality is she’s played 50 matches over the year. It’s been a successful year in that regard. She has had some good wins and been pretty consistent against lower-ranked players. She’s challenged high-ranked players and she had a stand-out win against Navarro in Miami. She’s made a semi-final and she continues to make really excellent progress in ranking terms and I think the only way is up.

“I stay assured she will turn out to be a top-10 participant. It may require a whole lot of laborious work, a whole lot of dedication, and actual dedication to this relationship with Francisco Roig which seems to be prefer it has the potential to be her most profitable teaching relationship for a very long time. 2026 might maintain one thing particular for Raducanu.”

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