Emma Raducanu Makes Difficult Confessions after Great Britain Exits the United Cup
Emma Raducanu to play at the Hobart International ahead of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Follow Us
Emma Raducanu (Image via LTA)
🔍 Explore this post with:
Emma Raducanu and Great Britain crashed out of the United Cup after failing to win a tie. The British No.1 was heavily relied upon during the tournament, but she failed to match the expectations with the right performance at the end due to her fitness struggles that have been a concern since last October.
Raducanu arrived in Perth, Australia, with Great Britain, but was not ready for the opening match after sustaining a bruise on her right foot. Team Captain Tim Henman had to change plans by calling on Katie Swan in her absence. Swan failed to impress as she fell to Japan’s Naomi Osaka, which eventually saw Great Britain lose the tie.
Raducanu eventually had to recover quickly to help save Great Britain’s dream of reaching the United Cup quarter-finals, but couldn’t do much. She took to the court against former World No.3 Maria Sakkari on Monday (January 5) and gave a brilliant second set performance that forced the match to a decider.
But Sakkari eventually claimed the victory 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to seal Greece’s place in the quarter-finals of the tournament. Raducanu showed enough signs of rust that have raised concerns ahead of the Australian Open. The former World No.10 is yet to fully overcome an injury she sustained last October, which forced her to end her 2025 season.
During her press conference, she was asked why she had yet to hit the ground running this season at the United Cup. Raducanu admitted that she didn’t train much during the pre-season and only began to practice two weeks before the United Cup kicked off on January 2. She added that she may have recovered from her injury too early:
Yeah, I didn’t have much time to test, because I wasn’t playing for too long. I was just looking to see if there was anything I could gain or add, and I hoped that I could have that time to do it, and I did. I practiced those two weeks pretty much with that racket. It’s great. I just felt like playing a match, and to fully trust it, it was too soon. Yeah, I just switched back to my racket. I know with certain shots, you feel every gram, you feel every kind of millimeter of your own racket…
Great Britain lost to Greece 1-2, which condemned them to a disappointing exit from the tournament. However, Raducanu will hope to get back to form before the Australian Open, which starts on January 18, as her ranking has given her a place in the main draw.
Emma Raducanu takes positives from United Cup loss
Emma Raducanu’s last match before the United Cup loss to Maria Sakkari came in October 2025; she lost to Zhu Lin in her opening match at the Ningbo Open. That was her third consecutive loss, which makes it four losses in a row for the British star after the United Cup. She will need to do something drastic to change the course of things.
During the aforementioned press conference, Raducanu noted that despite the loss, she’s proud of the confidence she showed on the court. The British No.1 highlighted that she only trained for two weeks before arriving for the United Cup:
Yeah, I started hitting two weeks ago, so it’s been a good two and a bit months where I didn’t play. I did fitness. Yeah, it’s been difficult to kind of increase the load and add the unpredictability of the tennis. I think today, being able to produce that, having not played, is just giving me confidence to what I can do when I do practice more.
Raducanu is expected to compete at the Hobart International, which begins on January 12, just six days before the Australian Open. She will work closely with her team, particularly Rafael Nadal’s former coach, Francisco Roig, during the event.
/techfirstnow/media/agency_attachments/kATjCXskQdJKkXN0OuqW.png)