British tennis star Emma Raducanu has hired Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francisco Roig ahead of the US Open – the eighth of her career to date.
Raducanu has been working with Mark Petchey since the Miami Open in March and he will remain as a ‘close confidant’ to the 22-year-old player.
But Roig, who was in the box for all of Nadal’s 22 Grand Slam singles titles, will replace Petchey as her main coach heading into Flushing Meadows.
Roig, part of Nadal’s team from 2005 to 2022, will start working with Raducanu in Cincinnati after signing a deal until the end of the year.
Petchey had been working as Raducanu’s part-time coach before making himself available on a full-time basis for this year’s grass-court swing.
Since the hard-court swing started, though, Petchey has once again found himself splitting his time between coaching and broadcast commitments.
Raducanu, currently ranked world No.33, has been in fine form ahead of the US Open, which she incredibly won as a qualifier four years ago.
The British No.1 reached the semi-finals of the Washington Open last month, where she conjured up wins over seventh-seed Marta Kostyuk, four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and former world No.3 Maria Sakkari.
Roig, a former player who reached a career-high ranking of No.60, will now be hoping to take Raducanu’s game to the next level.
