A crucial match lies ahead for Emma Raducanu in the 2025 season. After a foot injury in Korea that forced her to withdraw from the tournament, the WTA star made her return to the court at the Billie Jean King Cup. Raducanu remained undefeated in the Billie Jean King Cup, but Great Britain lost 2-1 to Slovakia and were eliminated. Now her sights are set on the upcoming ASB Classic tournament. Adding to the anticipation, the schedule hinted at a potential clash with former US Open champion Naomi Osaka.

Raducanu is in New Zealand preparing for the ASB Classic tournament. Although she hasn’t ever won this event, last year, the Briton oozed great confidence about her performance. “The field here in Auckland is extremely strong. I’m excited to play anyone. It doesn’t bother me. I think, match-wise, it might take a while to adjust to the feeling of pre-match nerves or just match fitness. But, level-wise, I feel really good,” said Raducanu. Despite confidence, the Briton lost the tournament at the Round of 16 after losing against Elina Evitolina. This season, she is excited again to play in the same tournament.

Emma Raducanu and Amanda Anisimova will begin their 2025 WTA seasons against American opponents at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. The tournament, the first WTA 250 event of the year, boasts a strong field, including top seeds Madison Keys and Elise Mertens. Naomi Osaka will also return to Auckland after reaching the quarterfinals in 2017. At what stage in the draw will Raducanu face Osaka?

The Tennis Letter’s official X page shared a tweet that followed Raducanu’s draw at Auckland.

According to their tweet, “Emma Raducanu’s possible path to the title in Auckland: R1 – Montgomery R2 – Qualifier / Niemeier QF – Sun / Marino / Pera SF – Keys / Tauson / Kenin / Cristian / Starodubtseva F – Osaka / Anisimova / Mertens / Volynets / Stephens.”

Interestingly, Osaka will face a qualifier in the tournament’s beginning round. Osaka is seeded to meet Mertens in the quarter-finals and also has Sloane Stephens and third seed Amanda Anisimova on her half of the draw. However, Osaka’s meeting with Raducanu has sparked huge excitement among the fraternity.

Last year, the duo was scheduled for a charity match in Melbourne during the Australian Open. However, Osaka withdrew from the event focusing on her performance in the tournament’s main draw.

Raducanu’s anticipated match against Naomi Osaka sparks interest because of their contrasting decision-making personalities, explains former-pro Andy Roddick.

Roddick explained the contrasting decision-making personalities of Emma Raducanu and Osaka in terms of

Before her participation at the Flushing Meadows, Emma Raducanu skipped Toronto and Cincinnati after not receiving main draw wild cards to either of the WTA1000s. She had a plan for doing so. Raducanu wanted to invest her practice and time in the US Open only. However, her decision didn’t seem to be fruitful at all. Briton exited the 2024 US Open in the first round.

Despite being snubbed a wildcard for the Cincinnati Open, Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, opted to compete in the qualifying rounds of the Masters 1000 event. Although she was defeated by Ashlyn Krueger in the second round of Cincinnati Open qualifying. In his Served podcast(in August), Roddick highlighted this contrasting point to show how Raducanu’s decisions were holding her back from showing her brilliance(winning the US Open 2021) in the sport.

He said, “Raducanu… I loved what she was building through Washington and then she decided she wasn’t going to play qualifiers in any of the tournaments, which is even stranger when you see someone like Naomi Osaka put pride on the side and go play qualifiers in Cincinnati.” 

Emma Raducanu’s 2025 season has fans eagerly anticipating an injury-free year and a strong performance. The highly anticipated clash against Naomi Osaka has generated significant excitement, with many believing the two former US Open champions will fiercely compete against each other. What are you expecting out of this potential outing?