Emma Raducanu believes she can fulfil her potential of becoming one of the best athletes in her sport after hiring the esteemed strength and conditioning coach Yutaka Nakamura on a full-time basis before the 2025 season.
“I think he is going to help me just really explore how far I can go athletically,” said Raducanu. “It’s a big strength of mine that I have nowhere near fulfilled. I think I can become one of the best athletes out there in tennis and I’m just looking forward to seeing how much I can do. And I think he’s really going to help with that. The way I’m working with him and Nick [Cavaday, her coach], it’s a lot more integrated.”
After noting that they were in talks last month, Raducanu has officially hired Nakamura after a trial period and they have been preparing for the new season together this week at the LTA National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, London. Nakamura has worked with numerous top players including Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka while they were winning major titles. The hiring is a significant step forward for the 2021 US Open champion, who has endured a string of injury problems since that breakthrough title. After previously using the LTA’s fitness coaches, she has now invested in her own personnel who can focus solely on her throughout the year.
“He’s going to be with me a lot next year,” she said. “I am really looking forward to it. I think it’s nice because as a person, I think we’re quite similar in the sense that we’re very focused with our work. When we work, we’re not like talking or chit-chatting about other things. It’s very much like this is our time to focus.”
Already eager for the new season to begin, Raducanu will head out to Australia on Thursday to complete her pre-season in Brisbane. She plans to start the 2025 season competing in Auckland and Adelaide, the latter depending on ranking entry cutoffs, before the first grand slam tournament of the year at the Australian Open.
“On the training court I feel amazing,” said Raducanu. “I’m running around, throwing myself around on the court, but it’s different playing matches. I played a few at the [Billie Jean King] Cup, and I felt good. I felt like I recovered well. I wasn’t tiring in the matches. It would just be good to see as the level increases, and if I have to play more back-to-back [matches], how I’m going to react.”
