Emma Raducanu hires former Sharapova and Osaka fitness coach as ambitious targets set ahead of 2025

Emma Raducanu will technically begin her season next week wasting little time after a stop-start 2024. The former US Open champion has hired the fitness trainer who took Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka to new heights.

Yutara Nakamura has been hired as her first full-time fitness coach as she looks to build her on-court resilience. Played with injuries since winning the US Open in 2021, it has been her achilles heel and one used to bash the Brit with.

The Japanese fitness trainer will fly out to Australia with her coach Nick Cavaday already on Thursday December 12 to prepare for the new season which starts at the ASB Classic on December 30.

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But work has already begun back at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton meaning no stone will be left unturned in her bid to return to her best.

“Yutaka’s going to be with me a lot next year, pretty much most weeks.” said Raducanu. “I am really looking forward to it. I think it’s nice because as a person, I think we’re quite similar in the sense that we’re very focused with our work.

“On the court, it’s not like chitchat and stuff. So I think it’s nice to have someone who’s on the same sort of wavelength as you. I think he is going to help me just really explore how far I can go, like athletically. I think it’s a big strength of mine that I have nowhere near fulfilled.

"I think I can become one of the best athletes out there in tennis and I’m just looking forward to seeing how much I can do. And I think he’s really going to help with that. And the way I’m working with him and Nick, it’s a lot more integrated.”

She will head out to Brisbane in the heat to train with close friend Aussie ace Priscilla Hon before spending Christmas in New Zealand. She may also play Adelaide too in the week following it but unlike before she has not signed up for too many tournaments and will in fact assess her progress in New Zealand before making a decision.

“I had a bit of a different pre-season this year because I was injured earlier, and I did a lot of training,” she said. “So I just want to get out in the heat a bit earlier. And it makes sense to go all the way rather than go somewhere and then come back and then fly out again.

“I didn’t want to go straight to Auckland because if you get to a tournament too early, you kind of get a bit stale before the match. So I wanted to go there and it’s like tournament time. I still wanted the heat, so I’m going to go to Brisbane for a week.”

“Is this the best my body has felt heading into a winter period? Yeah, I feel really strong. I feel really fit. The only thing I can’t really speak for, is I haven’t played that many matches. So it’s different. On the training court I feel amazing. I feel like I’m running around, throwing myself around on the court, but it’s different playing matches.

“I played a few at Fed Cup, and it was, yeah, I felt good. I felt like I recovered well. I wasn’t tiring in the matches. It would just be good to see as the level increases, and if I have to play more back-to-back, how I’m going to react.”