Emma Raducanu is confident she can reach her full potential and become one of the top competitors in her discipline after enlisting renowned strength and conditioning coach Yutaka Nakamura for a full-time role ahead of the 2025 season. “I believe he will assist me in discovering just how far I can progress athletically,” Raducanu stated. […]
Emma Raducanu is confident she can reach her full potential and become one of the top competitors in her discipline after enlisting renowned strength and conditioning coach Yutaka Nakamura for a full-time role ahead of the 2025 season.
“I believe he will assist me in discovering just how far I can progress athletically,” Raducanu stated. “It’s a significant strength of mine that I have yet to fully realize. I believe I can emerge as one of the elite athletes in tennis, and I’m excited to uncover what I can achieve. I think he will contribute a lot to that. The collaboration I have with him and Nick [Cavaday, her coach] is now much more cohesive.”
After mentioning that they were in discussions last month, Raducanu has formally contracted Nakamura following a trial phase, and they have been preparing together for the upcoming season this week at the LTA National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, London. Nakamura has experience working with several leading players, including Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka during their championship runs. This hiring marks a crucial advancement for the 2021 US Open winner, who has faced multiple injury challenges since her monumental victory. After relying on the LTA’s fitness experts, she has now dedicated resources to her own team who can concentrate exclusively on her throughout the season.
“He will be by my side a lot next year,” she remarked. “I’m really excited about it. I feel it’s wonderful because, as individuals, we share a lot of similarities, especially our dedication to our work. When we’re focused, we are not engaged in side conversations or casual talk. It’s very much about maximizing our time for concentration.”
Keen to kick off the new season, Raducanu will travel to Australia on Thursday to finalize her pre-season training in Brisbane. She intends to launch the 2025 season competing in Auckland and Adelaide, the latter being contingent on ranking entry requirements, prior to the first grand slam of the year at the Australian Open.
“I feel incredible on the training court,” declared Raducanu. “I’m darting around and giving it my all on the court, but it feels different when it comes to match play. I participated in a few games at the [Billie Jean King] Cup, and I felt positive. I felt I recovered well. I wasn’t fatigued during the matches. It will be interesting to see how I handle increasing levels of competition and if I need to play more consecutive [matches], how my body responds.”
