{"id":42603,"date":"2026-03-05T12:04:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42603"},"modified":"2026-03-05T12:04:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T12:04:27","slug":"raducanu-needs-more-physicality-to-rise-up-rankings-henman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=42603","title":{"rendered":"Raducanu needs more physicality to rise up rankings: Henman"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tim Henman believes it is more important for Emma Raducanu to improve her physicality rather than settle on a new coach if she is to climb up the tennis world rankings.<\/p>\n

The British number one is in action at this week’s WTA event in Indian Wells, where a good run in California could see her rise from her current position of 24th in the world.<\/p>\n

Raducanu, 23, has become notorious for regularly changing coaches since stunning the tennis world by coming through qualifying to win the 2021 US Open.<\/p>\n

Last month, she said that she was in no hurry to find a new coach after Francisco Roig became the latest to leave the role.<\/p>\n

Roig spent six months working with Raducanu, who went into the Australian Open not fully prepared because of a foot injury.<\/p>\n

A see-saw start to the season has seen Raducanu reach her first senior final since the US Open, in Romania, and then struggle with illness — a common occurrence during her professional career.<\/p>\n

Britain’s former world number four Henman believes that greater strength and speed is the key to Raducanu’s development.<\/p>\n

“She has to become physically more resilient to be stronger and faster to then compete with the biggest hitters and the best players,” he said.<\/p>\n

Henman, who will be commentating at Indian Wells for Sky Sports, added: “You look at the physicality of a (Aryna) Sabalenka, a (Iga) Swiatek, a Coco Gauff, a (Elena) Rybakina, Emma’s not at that level. And to a certain extent, with her physique, she might not ever be at that level, but she’s got to close the gap.”<\/p>\n

Raducanu’s split with Roig followed a second-round Australian Open defeat by Anastasia Potapova that saw Raducanu voice her unhappiness with the way she was playing under the Spaniard.<\/p>\n

She will be aided at Indian Wells by British former player Mark Petchey, who served as a temporary coach for several months last season in between his broadcasting commitments, while hitting partner Alexis Canter provides daily support.<\/p>\n

“I worked with three coaches in 15 years. I liked consistency and continuity, but that’s not what Emma does,” said Henman.<\/p>\n

“I wonder whether in some respects she’s better off without a coach and accepts the responsibility and just plays.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know what she’ll do next and she probably doesn’t either.”<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tim Henman believes it is more important for Emma Raducanu to improve her physicality rather than settle on a new coach if she is to climb up the tennis world rankings. The British number one is in action at this week’s WTA event in Indian Wells, where a good run in California could see her […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42603\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}