The end of her 2025 season, for Emma Raducanu, was filled with problems. She struggled in her Asian swing and decided to dedicate herself fully to the 2026 season, ending the campaign early. Fast forward to the current season, at the Australian Open, the crowd saw her walk away with a second-round defeat against Austria’s Anastasia Potapova, 7-6(3), 6-2. However, following the defeat, the Brit was quite stern about her performance.

“Yeah, I would say so, I think I want to be playing a different way. And I think the misalignment with how I’m playing right now and how I want to be playing is something that I just want to work on,” Raducanu said, making herself very clear at the post-match press conference. “I think there are definitely pockets of me playing how I want to play, and it comes out in flashes, which is a positive, and maybe more than certain times in my career in the last few years.”

Throughout her tennis career, Raducanu has gone through a lot of changes. Multiple coaches, taking her time to adjust herself to the pressure of tennis scheduling, and more. Right ahead of the 2025 Cincinnati Open, the Brit confirmed that Francisco Roig would be her new coach, a man who has an epic resume of pushing Rafael Nadal to 22 Grand Slams and world no. 1.

So, coming to the 2026 season, the Brit was quite clear with her ambitions. She ended her 2025 season with a rank of 29, not her best, but still a lot to learn about. She secured a semifinal berth at the Washington Open, made it to the quarterfinals of the Miami Open, and the HSBC Championships. Indeed, there have been flashes of brilliant performances, but the consistency has been lacking from the Brit, which is something she has acknowledged.

“But it’s not how I want to be, like, consistently every day. So it’s not going to fall into place straight away, but the more I work on how I want to be playing, it will be more of my identity every time I step onto the court. So yeah, I need to work at that, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” she said. However, coming to the Australian Open, there was another issue that the Brit pointed out.

Emma Raducanu confronts the tennis scheduling

“I think that’s a challenge,” Emma Raducanu once said about the tennis scheduling. However, right before the 2026 Australian Open, the tone of the Brit regarding this had completely shifted.

Raducanu arrived on Friday in Melbourne following a quarterfinal run at the Hobart International. At 9 pm on Saturday, she had her practice session, and for Sunday, she was locked in against Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew.

“It’s very difficult. You would love to have more time in the environment, more time practicing, but I guess I was pretty much handed the schedule to try and turn it around and make the most out of what is in front of me,” she said, confirming her thoughts on the tennis scheduling at the 2026 Australian Open.

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Furthermore, she added, “I think it’s easy to get down and complain about it, but it’s not going to help. So I’m just trying to focus and turn it around for tomorrow.” Looking at the results, the Brit defeated the Thai in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. However, she fell in the second-round against Anastasia Potapova, ultimately ending her Grand Slam hopes.