Emma Raducanu Acknowledges Her Imperfect Early 2026 Season Form

Emma Raducanu has admitted she’s far from her best this season, having won just one match at the Australian Open. The 23-year-old returned to winning ways at the Transylvania Open after convincingly beating Belgium’s Greet Minnen in the first round of the tournament.

Raducanu has not won back-to-back matches this season. The British No.1 performed poorly at the Australian Open, winning her opening match against Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-4, 6-1, but only to lose in the next round against Austria’s Anastasia Potapova in straight sets. The former US Open champion had complained about meeting top players early in Grand Slam tournaments, but failed to make use of her opportunities in Melbourne.

After the tournament, she announced that she had parted ways with her coach, Francisco Roig, after just six months working together. Roig was her eighth coach in the past five seasons. The start to the 2026 season has been the opposite of how Raducanu ended last season. In 2025, she posted her best record in WTA 1000 tournaments, 13-10.

Also, in Grand Slam tournaments, she won seven of her eleven matches. She burst onto the scene in March, reaching her first WTA 1000 quarter-final at the Miami Open, and then won three consecutive matches on clay for the first time at the Italian Open. She reached the semi-finals of the DC Open before losing to Anna Kalinskaya.

In 2026, Raducanu holds a 3-4 win-loss record and has struggled with fitness problems. During her post-match press conference at the Transylvania Open, she admitted that her performance has been far from perfect on the court this season. The former World No.10 added that the training sessions at the Australian Open have helped elevate her performance in Cluj:

I would say I’m still far from perfect, but I think last year I got to a place in my game where I was a lot more aggressive. I think my serve was a lot better, and it was setting up the points well. At the start of the year, I probably wasn’t serving as well, and I also didn’t have that much preparation. I do think the matches and training in Australia helped me feel that I’m in a better, sharper situation now here in Cluj.

Raducanu is without a coach at the Transylvania Open. She’s the tournament’s top seed, which gives her a chance to win it, as several players opted to rest after the Australian Open. She will be under pressure to win the WTA 250 tournament, with no top-20 players in the draw.

Emma Raducanu reveals that she didn’t feel comfortable at the Australian Open

After finishing the 2025 season in the top 30 for the first time in years, Emma Raducanu revealed that part of her objectives this season was to make sure she enters the top 20 of the WTA rankings. Following her declaration, there were expectations that she would win matches at the Hobart International and Australian Open, but she failed to do that.

She’s currently No.30 on the WTA rankings after failing to defend her last year’s third-round exit at the Australian Open. During the aforementioned post-match press conference, Raducanu noted that she didn’t feel comfortable in Melbourne because of the difficult heat conditions of the tournament:

I didn’t feel too comfortable in Australia. I think it was very tricky because depending on the time of day you play, the conditions are so different. You get adjusted to one, and then all of a sudden you’re playing in the day and the ball is flying, and it’s very difficult to adjust so quickly.

Raducanu defeated Greet Minnen 6-0, 6-4 in an hour and ten minutes at the Transylvania Open in Romania. She will face Kaja Juvan in the second round for a place in the quarter-finals of the WTA 250 tournament.

Also Read: Stan Wawrinka Shares Bold Top 100 Goal for Farewell Season

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