Emma Raducanu’s season is over and leaves her with two main regrets

Emma Raducanu has brought an early end to her season and now faces an anxious wait to see if she has done enough to earn a seeding at the Australian Open in January. It rather sums up Raducanu’s year that a generally positive season ends on a downward note, with the 22-year-old opting to pull out of her two final events in Tokyo and Hong Kong as a result of the physical struggles she encountered in China.

There was, however, a positive for Raducanu with the confirmation that she will continue her coaching partnership with Francisco Roig, and there is plenty for the British No 1 to build on going into 2026. For a start, after two injury-disrupted years in 2023 and 2024, Raducanu’s body mostly held up to the demands of a full season in 2025. She played a career-high 50 matches in the year and entered all of the top 15 tournaments on the calendar, the four grand slams and the 11 WTA 1000 events, for the first time.

There are signs that she has rectified issues with her scheduling and found consistency in life on tour. It wasn’t until the very end of the year, amid brutally hot and humid conditions in China, where Raducanu toiled physically and was forced to retire from her match against Ann Li in Wuhan. The decision to end her season early to focus on recovery appears to be a wise one after also struggling in her first-round defeat at the Ningbo Open.

When fit, Raducanu’s run to the quarter-finals of the Miami Open and semi-finals of the Washington Open on either side of an encouraging summer stood out, with the 22-year-old enjoying a relaxed approach and recording some of the best results of her career, as well as arguably her best level of play since her 2021 US Open run. She left Wimbledon having offered a taste of that, too, following her thrilling third-round battle with World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka under the roof of Centre Court.

In terms of lows, Raducanu experienced a couple of distressing moments, having to deal with a man who “exhibited fixated behaviour” towards her during a match in Dubai in February. It brought a difficult spell for Raducanu - who was also without a coach after Nick Cavaday stepped aside because of health issues at the start of the year. It is to Raducanu’s immense credit that she found some momentum in Miami in March, where working alongside Mark Petchey brought her best run at a WTA 1000 event.

At the grand slams, Raducanu’s results all followed a similar story. A strong start to the Australian Open came crashing to a halt when she faced Iga Swiatek in the third round, losing 6-1 6-0 in the heaviest defeat of her career. Raducanu lost to Swiatek again at the French Open and although her match against Sabalenka at Wimbledon was close, there was another one-sided defeat at the US Open, winning just three games in her third-round defeat to Elena Rybakina.

There was not much luck in Raducanu’s draws but her results against the best in the world leaves no hiding from the reality of the difference between top-30 and top-10. Raducanu also pushed Sabalenka close in Cincinnati, but again fell short to the US Open champion.

It was the story of Raducanu’s season that she put herself in position to challenge the best in the world but ultimately did not manage to claim a statement win. She finished the season with a 1-10 record against top-10 opponents, with her only win coming against Emma Navarro during her run to the Miami Open quarter-finals.

While Raducanu recorded two wins over Amanda Anisimova at the start of the season, including in the second round of the Australian Open, the American found the kick that Raducanu could not to suddenly leap into contention at some of the biggest tournaments. Anisimova finished the year with two grand slam finals, two WTA 1000 titles and at a career-high of No 4 in the world. It is perhaps a way of illustrating that Raducanu is not that far away.

At the same time, the fine margins have not gone in her favour. Raducanu opted to skip the Billie Jean King Cup in order to concentrate on improving her ranking and playing a full Asian swing for the first time. Instead, Raducanu suffered two of the most agonising defeats of her career, spurning three match points against Barbora Krejcikova at the Korea Open and another three match points against World No 7 Jessica Pegula at the China Open in the very next event. They were brutal defeats, but flip either of those results and Raducanu was one point away from the past few weeks looking very differently.

Still, in the WTA Race rankings, Raducanu is 27th and should enter 2026 having solidified her place in the world’s top-30, which would be enough to be seeded for the Australian Open at the start of next year. A full season of activity has seen Raducanu reestablish herself as the British No 1 and there is some stability, too, with the Spaniard Roig, who worked with Rafael Nadal during his career, in position ahead of the new season. It is a positive sign that they both believe further progress could be on the way.