The start of the 2025 season hasn’t gone according to the plans of Emma Raducanu. While she missed the tournaments ahead of the Australian Open due to a back injury, the former US Open champion bowed out of the Grand Slam Down Under in the third round, losing tamely against Iga Swiatek. To make matters worse, the British star lost in the first round of the Singapore Tennis Open as she continued her disappointing run. But despite the dip in form, Raducanu remained optimistic about the things to come.

Following a lengthy injury absence a couple of seasons back, Raducanu had a half-decent 2024 season and rose in the WTA rankings slowly and steadily – almost 250 positions from No. 303 in April to the Top 60. With this, she set her sights on 2025 to get back into the Top 10 of the WTA rankings. Her tournament runs have proved that it is going to be an uphill climb. Despite the challenge, she issued a confident statement at the Singapore Tennis Open.

During an interview, Raducanu was asked about the one player that she hasn’t faced but would like to face on the tennis court. However, Raducanu had a cheeky reply and said, “I’d say not necessarily, I feel like our opponents, we just want to beat all of them. So, it doesn’t really matter. We don’t differentiate.”

Interestingly, the former US Open champ has faced most of the top stars of the current era over the course of her career. During her peak in 2021, Raducanu made it to the business end of tournaments – despite her relative inexperience then. As a result, she has already faced top players like Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, and often given them a run for their money. But a fact that can’t be ignored are her shock losses to lower ranked players.

In fact, Raducanu’s straight-set victories over the likes of Ekaterina Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova at the recently concluded Australian Open are are striking odds with her latest performance. Just yesterday, Raducanu lost against World Number 101, Cristina Bucsa in the WTA 250 event in Singapore. She won the first set 7-6, but was unable to convert it to a win. Eventually, after multiple service breaks, she lost the next two sets 5-7, 5-7. But despite a her questionable assessment of her performance, her issues may not entirely be of her own making.

Emma Raducanu makes a questionable remark amid recent coaching struggles

After a grim end in Singapore, fans would’ve expected to see a dejected Raducanu. However, after the match, the Brit stated that she played better here than in Australia. She revealed, “For me to be playing this kind of match, all I need is time on court and a match-competitive situation, which I got today. I got it in abundance — over three hours of it — so, for me, it’s really valuable because every match I play, I feel like it’s a win. I think it was really small margins in it. I honestly thought I played pretty well today. She just played unbelievable and, credit to her, she kept it up the whole match.”

Two key concerns showed up in her match – a heavily faltering service, and long-haul fitness issues. On her second serves, the Brit won only 8 of 33 – a measly 24%. And if the three setter proved anything, its that Raducanu – who got exhausted in the third set – has a long way back to recovering her top form. But the most troubling news emerged from her camp earlier this week.

Nick Cavaday, Raducanu’s long-associated coach – from back in her junior days to reuniting in 2024 – vacated his pivotal role due to personal reasons. Supporting her in his place was Mama Renee and another new face – recently joined fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura. And in the fray are rumors of Andy Murray or even Goran Ivanisevic joining as her new coach. This overhaul of her coaching team will need time to settle in an take effect. Whether that will effect positive change in her game is a story best left to time now.