Emma Raducanu is in talks with Maria Sharapova’s former fitness trainer as she looks to bolster her backroom team for next season.
Telegraph Sport understands that Yutaka Nakamura, one of the most respected physical trainers in the game having overseen Sharapova’s stellar career and also worked with former world No 1 Naomi Osaka among other high-profile players, is being considered to work with the 2021 US Open champion.
While the appointment has not yet been confirmed, a full-time deal with Nakamura would signal an encouraging willingness from Raducanu to invest in her tennis – and most specifically her fitness.
With one likely tournament to come in 2024 – next week’s Billie Jean King Cup finals in Malaga – Raducanu has turned in a respectable season which lifted her ranking from No 301 on Jan 1 to a current No 58.
But she has continued to suffer from niggling injuries, most recently the sprained foot ligaments that forced her to return from Asia after only one tournament of a planned four-tournament swing.
It was not disclosed at the time, but Telegraph Sport can also reveal that Raducanu’s lack of build-up matches ahead of the US Open were the consequence of an abdominal strain that she suffered in early August.
The injury is understood to have been connected to a locum fitness trainer setting up her training machine at an unexpectedly high weight. It was a salutary lesson in the disadvantages of using generic fitness personnel.
Raducanu has not had a consistent presence in this area before. During her history-making 2021 run at Flushing Meadows, she was accompanied by Will Herbert, a physio and fitness trainer, but he now works with Jack Draper.
Then, at the end of 2022, she was linked with Jez Green – another highly-rated fitness trainer who helped turn Sir Andy Murray into the mighty physical specimen we remember from his glory days.
While Green’s appointment was welcomed enthusiastically at the time, it turned out to be something of a mirage, because he was still contracted to another former US Open champion in Dominic Thiem. After helping Raducanu with her winter training block, his input was limited thereafter.
If it were to be approved, the full-time appointment of Nakamura would send a powerful message. At 21, Raducanu is still in the developmental phase of her career, despite the game-changing victory she scored in New York three years ago.
Tennis insiders see a genuine talent who has been held back by injuries and a revolving-door approach to coaches, every one of whom has come with their own ideas.
What they haven’t seen, yet, is that Raducanu has the hunger that distinguishes world-beaters like Aryna Sabalanka and Iga Swiatek – the two women who have dominated the WTA Tour for the past two seasons.
But if she is prepared to invest money, time and sweat in improving her physical resilience, under Nakamura’s supervision, that would be a significant step in the right direction.
While Raducanu’s 2024 may have been little more than workmanlike – with occasional highlights such as her twin demolitions of Elise Mertens and Maria Sakkari at Wimbledon – she has already made progress on the backroom front.
She finally seems to have settled with a regular, reliable coach – Nick Cavaday, who oversaw her childhood development programme at Bromley Tennis Centre – and has also brought her friend and mentor Jane O’Donoghue out to several tournaments for extra support.
Nakamura could yet prove to be the final piece in the puzzle, and the very fact that a trainer of his stature is interested in working with Raducanu demonstrates how much latent ability she has.
He learned some of his skills alongside the legendary coach Nick Bollettieri, and has a raft of famous tennis names on his CV, including not only Sharapova – whom he worked with for eight years – and Osaka but also Jennifer Capriati, Tommy Haas, Kei Nishikori and Mary Pierce.
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