Emma Radukanu believes she can fulfill her potential to become one of the best athletes in her sport after hiring respected strength and conditioning coach Yutaka Nakamura full-time ahead of the 2025 season.
“I think he’s going to help me really explore how far I can go athletically,” Radukanu said. “This is a great strength of mine that I have not been able to realize. I think I can become one of the best athletes in tennis and I’m just looking forward to seeing how much I can do. And I think he will really help with that. The way I work with him and Nick [Cavaday, her coach]it’s much more integrated.”
Having noted this they negotiated last monthRadukanu officially hired Nakamura after a trial period and they were preparing for the new season together this week at the LTA National Tennis Center in Roehampton, London. Nakamura has worked with many top players, including Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka, as they won major titles. The hire is a significant step forward for the 2021 US Open champion, who has suffered a series of injury problems since that breakthrough title. Having previously used LTA’s fitness trainers, she has now invested in her own staff who can focus solely on her throughout the year.
“He’s going to be with me a lot next year,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s nice because as people, I think we’re quite similar in the sense that we’re very focused in our work. When we are working, we don’t like to talk or chat about other things. It’s like this is our time to focus.”
Already eager for the start of the new season, Radukanu will depart for Australia on Thursday to complete her pre-season in Brisbane. She plans to start the 2025 season with events in Auckland and Adelaide, the latter subject to the cut-offs, before the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open.
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“On the training pitch I feel amazing,” said Radukanu. “I’m running around, throwing myself on the court, but it’s different playing matches. I played a little of [Billie Jean King] A cupand I felt good. I felt like I recovered well. I wasn’t tiring in the matches. It would just be nice to see the level increase and if I got to play more back to back [matches]how will I react.”
