Former world number one Martina Navratilova believes Emma
Raducaun must ‘commit’ to a coaching staff to continue her progress on the
court. The 22-year-old, who was once regarded as the next big thing after
winning the US Open at the age of just 18 back in 2021, recently featured in the
Miami Open. Her journey ended in the quarterfinal stage, where she lost to
America’s Jessica Pegula in a hard-fought contest with a score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.
Former world number one Navratilova has spoken to Sky Sports, as quoted by Tennis 365, where she praised the performances of the former world number 10 in the ongoing WTA 1000 event. The 18-time Grand Slam winner was of
the opinion that Raducanu must commit to one set of coaching staff.
Navratilova further went on to state that the most important thing for the former world number 10 is to stay fit, and if she manages to do that, there is no reason why she will not be able to improve her rankings in the coming weeks and months.
“If she stays healthy and plays this well, then she’ll be
seeded at Roland Garros,” said Navratilova. “I think she’ll move up the ranking
well enough into the top 30. The biggest question mark is her health. Hopefully
she can sort out her coaching situation because she’s been in a state of flux,
but I think she needs to commit to somebody and stay with them for a little
bit, see how that works. If she played like she did against Pegula, then the
sky’s the limit.”
She further went on to state that: “It was amazing. The way
she looked at the end of that second set, you think this match is over and
somehow she won the set, she won the tie-break, and still competed in the third
but she was not feeling well. I think the stress
contributed to that because the weather was fine, it was cool, they finished
after 11pm so the weather was [not a factor]. The humidity takes it out of you
a lot, but still – this was something more for Emma and it’s just amazing that she
finished the match.”