Emma Raducanu has confirmed the appointment of seasoned fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura, and predicted that his expertise will help her become “one of the best athletes out there in tennis”.
A familiar figure on the circuit, Nakamura helped Maria Sharapova stay at the top of the game during an eight-year collaboration, then also worked with Naomi Osaka when she was still a serious contender at the majors. His imminent deal with Raducanu was first reported by Telegraph Sport a month ago.
Nakamura will accompany Raducanu when she flies out to Brisbane on Thursday for an extended spell of hot-weather pre-season training. Her first tournament of 2025 will come in Auckland – in fact, the event starts on Dec 29, such is the unrelenting nature of tennis – and she also hopes to play Adelaide in the week before January’s Australian Open in Melbourne.
“I just want to get out in the heat a bit earlier,” Raducanu told reporters in a pre-season briefing on Friday. “Yutaka is going to be with me a lot next year. We’re quite similar in the sense that we’re very focused with our work: we’re not, like, talking or chit-chatting about other things.
“It’s nice to have someone who’s on the same sort of wavelength as you. I think he is going to help me just really explore how far I can go, like, athletically. 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 the way I’m working with him and Nick [Cavaday, her coach], it’s a lot more integrated.”
Raducanu has continued to show evidence of physical frailty in 2024, clocking up only 36 matches, whereas the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka played 70. Raducanu suffered only one “official” injury, when she sprained foot ligaments in Seoul in September and was forced to cut short her Asian swing, but it’s understood that she also damaged an abdominal muscle in August.
‘I feel really strong’
By adding Nakamura to her team, Raducanu has signalled a willingness to invest in this side of her game. And the fact that she wants to play Adelaide, in the week before the Australian Open, suggests growing confidence in her physical resilience.
“I feel really strong,” said Raducanu, who has already put in a considerable amount of training since recovering from her foot injury. “I feel really fit. The only thing I can’t really speak for, is I haven’t played that many matches.
“On the training court I feel amazing, I’m throwing myself around, but it’s different playing matches. I played a few at Fed Cup [now the Billie Jean King Cup], and 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 [matches] back-to-back, how I’m going to react.”
As for the choice of Brisbane, Tennis Australia have a base there, and Raducanu will be practising with a friend: the Australian No 9 Priscilla Hon. “We’re going to hit, hang out there, get in the heat,” she said. “I didn’t want to go straight to Auckland because if you get to a tournament too early, you kind of get a bit stale before the match. So I wanted to go there when it’s tournament time.”
‘A lot of players are worried about supplements’
During Friday’s interview, Raducanu was also asked about the recent controversy over Iga Swiatek’s contaminated melatonin supplements, which led to Swiatek being banned for a month after testing positive for trimetazidine. Raducanu explained that anxiety over accidental contamination is a way of life for tennis players.
“Not just me, but a lot of the players I know, we’re quite apprehensive,” said Raducanu. “Everything we take, we are very aware of the situation and how easily things can be contaminated. And there are certain supplements that I may want to take, but I can’t take them because they’re over the counter and they’re not batch-tested.
“To batch-test something, it costs a grand for one little thing, so it’s very expensive. For the things that you really, really need to take, then it’s obviously worth that. But you just have to cut out a lot of things that you wouldn’t necessarily take. I’m very careful with what I drink, what I eat. If I leave my water around, I’m very on edge about it. But it’s just part of the sport. We’re all in the same boat.”
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