Meet Emma Raducanu’s Coach Francisco Roig: Ethnicity, Relationship With Nadal & More

Emma Raducanu was having a resurgent 2025 under coach Mark Petchey, but Petchey’s broadcasting commitments meant she had to find a new coach. She also needed someone who could continue the momentum. After all, since her maiden and only Grand Slam win in 2021 at the US Open, she had had a rough few of years marred with injuries, problems, disappointing exits, and a whole lot of coaching changes.

“I can definitely improve on the quality of a lot of my shots,” Raducanu told BBC Sport in August, just a couple of days before her 2025 US Open campaign began. “I’ve been good at being creative, scrapping, playing the big points well, but the overall quality of my game needs to be better.” Well, at the time of her saying it, she had already added a new name to her coaching team. And a rather big one. So, let’s get to know the Brit’s new coach, Francisco Roig, who has a legendary 22-Grand Slam connection with him.

Emma Raducanu’s new coach: Francisco Roig

Spanish coach, Francisco Roig, became Raducanu’s coach before the Cincinnati Open, making him the 8th coach to work with the 2021 US Open Champion since her main draw debut at Wimbledon in 2021. After Petchey, it was after a trial that the 22-year-old and the 57-year-old Catalan coach decided to join forces till the end of the season. A short period, no doubt, but they have been off to a solid start, minus her US Open third round loss to Elena Rybakina earlier.

Hailing from Barcelona, Roig is known to be a master observer and a technician, who in his playing days was a doubles specialist. And he even reached World No. 60 in the singles rankings. In terms of professional on-court experience Roig has plenty. He has also added to it after becoming a coach. The Spaniard also coached a certain Rafael Nadal, the man who’s won 22 majors and a monumental 14 French Open titles .

As far as his CV is concerned, there aren’t many who can better Francisco Roig. We are talking about a special coach here. His close friend, Jordi Vilaro, who also happens to be the co-owner of the BTT Academy in Barcelona with Roig, regards the Catalan as a coach who had “special eyes.” Talking to BBC Sport, he said Roig could see something other coaches wouldn’t see in a 1000th of a second.

And Vilaro isn’t the only one. Feliciano López, one of Roig’s earlier students, stated the same thing about Roig not needing videos to catch something. Christopher Clarey, in his biography of Nadal, The Warrior, shared those insights of López about Roig. “He doesn’t use that much video analysis, but he sees things that the rest of the coaches don’t see.” And López even gave an example. “He’s able to see things in Rafa’s forehand or movement that no other guys would notice. Technically, I think he’s the best coach in the world.”

As per Nadal’s biography, Roig was crucial in helping Nadal with his volleys and slice backhand. And the slice backhand is something he is also working on with Raducanu, as she tries to add more variety to her game. Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle, who was also his main coach for much of his career, thinks Emma Raducanu is in good hands. “Francis is a very good coach and a man who can help Raducanu to improve technically – he puts a lot of attention on this,” Toni Nadal told BBC Sport.

But Roig is not just about strokeplay. He also helped Nadal in conditioning and being ready for matches. Giving special emphasis on warm-ups was important in the later stages of Nadal’s career. “Not only the training, but the warm-ups are vital,” Roig had told The Times recently.

Vilaro said any player who trains with Roig becomes a better player, hits cleaner and better. And talking about the coach, Lopez said, “There are a lot of things which great coaches need to have – to be good technically, a good psychologist and a good person … Francis has got all these qualities.”

Achievements under Francisco Roig

Lopez terms Roig as the best coach in the world who will push you till what needs to be fixed gets fixed. Raducanu had been on the ascendency under Mark Petchey, reaching the quarter-finals in Miami and at the Queen’s Club. She also fought well against Aryna Sabalenka in the 3rd-round exit at Wimbledon. But the addition of Francisco Roig has seemed to have added another gear to her play.

The 22-year-old looks stronger, faster, and fitter, and when she clashed with Sabalenka again at the Cincinnati Open, the results were showing. In the Round of 32 tie, Raducanu pushed the World No. 1 all the way, with the match finishing 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 in the Belarusian’s favor. And now, after her 6-1 6-2 US Open 1st-round win over Ena Shibahara, Emma Raducanu managed to break the 3-year duck at the very Slam which gave her glory in 2021.

She has looked happy and confident, enjoying her tennis, which she has also mentioned in her pressers. And she is definitely enjoying working with Roig. “I put a lot of trust in what I’m doing with Francisco on the practice court,” Radacanu said, talking to the New York Post after her 1st round win. “We’re just working really well, doing the right stuff on the practice court, and I just feel like I’m improving. To take confidence from what I’m doing behind the scenes and not just have confidence because I’ve won these matches on the tour.”

She is enjoying the process of getting better as a player, and what has helped is how her coach has contributed to the process. “He brings a lot of good energy and he’s constantly joking around,” Raducanu said. “His energy is, most of the time, higher than all of us at the end of the day. It’s great to have that around, that positivity, and I feed off it.”

Talking to Sky Sports before her 2nd-round match against qualifier Janice Tjen, Raducanu said, “I can be pretty tough on myself sometimes. He just helps a lot with trying to be not such a perfectionist.”

But that doesn’t mean that the end goal is anything different from being a Grand Slam Champion again. “I think to really take a step to be beating or making it close with the top ten consistently, I need to be doing the things I’m doing with Francis now and I think he can really help get me towards that,” Raducanu said to the NY Post. “We’ve only had a few weeks together, so I don’t know if it will come this week, but I do believe that over time we will get there.”

Her serve precision has improved, with zero double faults in the first 2 rounds of the US Open. She also had just 6 unforced errors in the 1st round, and 8 in the second.

Final Thoughts

The 22-year-old is on the right path to getting back amongst the best in the tour and going deep into tournaments. Moreover, she has also impressed her new coach. “I spoke to Francis after Raducanu beat Danilovic and before she played Sabalenka,” Vilaro said, talking to BBC Sport. “He said, ‘It’s amazing, I like working with this player a lot because she loves to be on court. We spent two hours training the return, the return plus second shot and what to do when the opponent attacks’.”

She didn’t have the best of starts against Elena Rybakina. But Emma Raducanu is looking for long-term fixes. And Francisco Roig is the man for that job.