Emma Raducanu finds her tennis – and some levity – after fixated behavior ordeal in Dubai

New York Times

28-03-2025

Barely a month after one of the toughest experiences of her life, Emma Raducanu achieved the second-best result of her young career.
The quarterfinals of the Miami Open, a WTA 1,000 event just below the Grand Slams, is the furthest Raducanu, 21 has gone at a big tournament since winning the U.S. Open aged 18 in 2021. Raducanu came within a set of reaching the semis in Florida, but ultimately succumbed 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-2 to America's world No. 4, Jessica Pegula. A doctor checked a faint-looking Raducanu's blood pressure and pulse towards the end of the second set, with the Brit having gone from 5-2 up to 5-4 before receiving medical attention.
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When the WTA rankings are updated March 31, Raducanu will be in the world's top 50 for the first time since the summer of 2022. In Miami, she beat two top-20 players, including getting past the world No. 10 Emma Navarro for her third-ever top-10 win. Incredibly, it is the first time since that U.S. Open run that Raducanu has won four matches at the same event.
This all seemed extremely unlikely a month ago, when Raducanu was still processing what happened at the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates. On February 18, a man, who was later described as exhibiting 'fixated behaviour' toward Raducanu, sat courtside for the start of her match against Czech world No. 14 Karolina Muchová. Raducanu spotted him and approached the umpire in tears during the second game, retreating behind the official's chair.
The man, who had approached Raducanu the previous day, and had given her a photo and his contact details, was escorted away by security. He was then banned from WTA Tour events and was given a restraining order, according to Dubai authorities. Raducanu finished the match and ultimately lost in two tight sets, but she had a huge amount to process afterwards.
She was in two minds about whether to play her next event at Indian Wells, Calif., weighing up the possibility of taking a break from the sport. On February 26, she decided she would fly to the U.S. from London the following day, figuring that she'd be better off giving it a go at one of her favourite tournaments.
A few days after arriving, and with two security guards in the room, she spoke to a small group of reporters about the incident in Dubai. 'I literally couldn't see the ball through the tears, I could barely breathe,' she said. 'I was playing Karolina, and I can't see the ball. Then the first four games kind of ran away from me because I was not on the court, to be honest. I'm not really sure how I regrouped.
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'I'm here because I feel a lot better now.'
She added: 'It was a very emotional time and after the match I did completely break down in tears, but not necessarily because I lost. It was more because there was just so much emotion in the last few weeks of the events happening and I just needed that week off to take a breather.'
The previous few weeks that Raducanu referenced were eventful in themselves. No sooner had she reached the third round at the Australian Open in January, posting impressive wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova, than her trusted coach Nick Cavaday stepped down because of health concerns. Suddenly coachless, she promptly lost her next three matches, ending that run with the win over Greece's Maria Sakkari in Dubai that set up her match with Muchová.
Raducanu's search for a new coach saw her joined in Indian Wells by the experienced Vladimir Platenik on a temporary basis. Platenik was available at late notice after splitting with Lulu Sun, who beat Raducanu on her way to last year's Wimbledon quarterfinals. They had one practice session before the Brit's first-round match against Moyuka Uchijima on March 6, in which Raducanu was well beaten 6-3, 6-2 by an opponent vastly more equipped to handle the windy, high-bouncing conditions.
That loss was Raducanu's sixth in seven matches, but there was little sense of panic. One former British player, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships in tennis, said after the Australian Open that they felt Raducanu was playing at a top-30 level. 'Add in a serve,' they said, after Raducanu's reworked motion often misfired badly in Melbourne, 'and it's top 20.'
Alexandrova and Anisimova both won the first event they played after losing to Raducanu at the Australian Open, while Muchová reached the Dubai semifinals after beating her.
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Following her early exit in Indian Wells, Raducanu began preparations for the Miami Open with Platenik. A veteran coach who has worked previously with top-10 players like fellow Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova and Daria Kasatkina, Platenik had clear ideas about what he wanted to work on with his new charge.
Raducanu's serve was a particular focus, a shot that she had struggled with all year since tweaking her back during the off-season. In her three matches at the Australian Open, Raducanu served 24 double faults and was broken 16 times in six sets.
'We improved the serve with a higher toss because she had some problems there and with the second serve, her toss was too high for a kick serve,' Platenik said in a phone interview last week.
They watched a lot of video footage of other players, with Andy Murray a reference point for how to absorb opponents' power. Platenik name-checked Mirra Andreeva, the champion in Indian Wells and Dubai, as someone who is able to find the right balance between offense and defense. Footwork was also a big focus.
'Emma was getting this very, very quickly and is clearly super talented,' Platenik said. 'I never had a player improve so fast.'
At a news conference in Miami, Raducanu said that their partnership had delivered 'some really good work,' adding that she has been 'getting some benefits on the match court right now.'
But after two weeks of working together, Raducanu called Platenik to tell him his services were no longer required. Platenik said there were no hard feelings from his end, adding that Raducanu cited 'feeling stressed' when she called him to explain why she was making the change.
A statement from a spokesperson for Raducanu said: 'Emma has utmost respect for Vlado and the work they started but it wasn't quite heading in the right direction.'
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Raducanu has no compunction about moving on from a coach if they are not giving her what she needs. Previously, she has felt that some coaches have not been at the required technical level; in this case, it appeared to be more of a chemistry issue for a player who generally likes to work collaboratively rather than with someone more prescriptive. Chemistry matters a lot to Raducanu, who puts a huge amount of importance on having people around her she knows and can trust. She has gone back to working with people she knew when she was a junior on a few occasions, including Cavaday, who first coached her when she was 10. Platenik himself worked with her for an even briefer trial than this one, back in 2020.
Platenik had also given an interview to Slovakian publication Dennik N the day after taking the job, which he admitted 'stressed' Raducanu. Platenik said in the interview that he had considered previous offers to coach Raducanu to be 'coaching suicide' and made the first public reference to the role of her father, Ian, in appointing her coaches.
Feeling safe and comfortable was particularly important for Raducanu after what had happened in Dubai, and it proved to be an important factor in her impressive run in Miami.
The day after parting ways with Platenik, Raducanu thrashed Japan's Sayaka Ishii 6-2, 6-1, in the first round of the Miami Open, dropping her serve just once and only hitting one double fault. Two days later, Raducanu picked up her first-ever hard-court win against a top-10 player by outlasting Navarro, a player with an outstanding three-set record. Given Raducanu's many physical issues over the last few years, it was a significant victory against a durable player, one that underlined the importance of fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura, who joined the team at the back end of last year.
The way Raducanu scrapped against Navarro stuck out to those watching. 'For me, the best bit about Emma's year is the way she's been out there competing,' Tim Henman, who mentored Raducanu during her U.S. Open win, said during a video interview this week confirming his appointment as a vice-captain for the Laver Cup, the international team event. 'She's getting stronger physically, and when you're that good if you keep doing the right things, keep working in the right areas, the results will come. I've never had any doubts about her ability.'
Former British player Mark Petchey, who Raducanu has known for many years, and Jane O'Donoghue, a long-term friend and former LTA coach, were watching on from her box. 'This week I have amazing people who have known me for a very long time,' she said in a news conference. 'I feel very secure and happy and wanting to fight for them, as well.'
The mood in the group was light, with Raducanu playing American football, football and cornhole during her warm-ups, and playing spikeball with her team just before going on court. In her on-court interview after beating an injured McCartney Kessler 6-1, 3-0 (retired) in the next round, Raducanu said: 'I'd say I'm a bit of a free spirit, so I don't need restrictions or being told what to do.
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'I think when I'm being really authentic, that's when I'm playing my best.'
Having reached the quarterfinals with a 6-1, 6-3 win over world No. 17 Anisimova, who was also suffering physically with blisters, Raducanu returned to the theme.
'I've come a long way in the last week,' she told Sky Sports.
'I think since Indian Wells, I wasn't necessarily feeling great about my tennis, about everything. But this week, I have some very good people around me that I trust, and so I have had fun off the court as well.
'That's extremely important for me, who's just very expressive. When I play my best, I'm definitely authentic, true to myself and creative. And I feel when I'm boxed in into a regimented way, then I'm not able to kind of express myself in the same way.'
Raducanu used her backhand slice to disrupt Anisimova's rhythm, with the American coming off a grueling three-set win over Mirra Andreeva. It offered a reminder of what Raducanu's statements about creativity and expression can translate to on court when she is feeling free, something that was on full display when she won the U.S. Open title and made elite players like Sakkari and Belinda Bencic look lost on court. It was on display again in her quarterfinal against Pegula, as Raducanu roared back against a player who hits flat and true when in flow but can be hustled into mistakes.
Ultimately, the U.S. Open finalist was too strong, but given where she was a month ago, Raducanu will take a lot of positives from where she is now. She still needs a coach but at least has a platform to build on for the rest of the year. Raducanu will be No. 48 in the world on March 31, with a puncher's chance of moving up the 16 places she needs to be seeded for Wimbledon, her home Grand Slam.
Raducanu's next event is the Billie Jean King Cup, where she'll be part of the Great Britain team up against Germany and then the Netherlands in The Hague on April 11 and 12. Her de facto coach for that weekend will be the British team captain, Anne Keothavong, who via the U.K. Lawn Tennis Association told reporters that Raducanu had shown a combination of competitiveness and freedom against Pegula that bodes well for the rest of her season.
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After that, her team will at some point change again. Petchey and O'Donoghue have other commitments, so won't be able to join full-time. A British Tennis Center coach, Colin Beecher, has worked with her in the last few weeks, but is not expected to work with just one player at a time; Cavaday remains in touch. Even if they will not be in her box forever, Raducanu has learned what works for her from her short time with Petchey and O'Donoghue, which includes reining in some of the intensity in her preparation.
'The first section of this year, I would be so locked in,' Raducanu said in her news conference after beating Anisimova in Miami.
'Every warm-up would be an hour long. By the time I played the match, I was quite tired. That's something that we adjusted this week, bringing more fun elements into it, shortening certain things, and adding things that are outside the box.
'Playing a game, getting a good sweat on, laughing. Then you go onto the court feeling a lot more relaxed, and every part of you is just looser.'
After what happened in Dubai, Raducanu had also deactivated her Instagram, which she would often use to update fans on her progress. Off the back of Miami, she brought it back, posting a photo of her sitting on some. Florida sand. The caption read, ' thank you miami.' Raducanu's relaxed demeanour there on and off the court, and what it might mean for her tennis, is as striking as her quarterfinal run.