Former British tennis star Naomi Cavaday revealed that Emma Raducanu intends to keep her brother Nick Cavaday for the 2025 season and also shared that the 22-year-old is on the verge of officially adding Yutaka Nakamura as her new strength and conditioning coach.
After splitting with five different coaches in two and a half years, the Briton refused to go for a big name in 2024. Instead, she turned to her childhood coach Cavaday. And not only that she went a full season with one coach for the first time, but she also sounded pretty happy whenever asked how she felt about the work they were doing.
Knowing that, it was clear that Raducanu probably wouldn’t make any changes in that department ahead of 2025. However, she is still set to get another team member – Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka’s former fitness coach Nakamura. The news of the former world No. 10 looking to hire Nakamura were first reported earlier this month. Now, Naomi Cavaday revealed on The Tennis Podcast that the two already did some work together before the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, where the 2021 US Open winner impressively went 3-3.
Raducanu confirmed rumors in Malaga
Health-wise, 2024 was far better for the 22-year-old than some of the previous seasons. But still, she dealt with certain niggles which stopped her from playing more and probably having an even better comeback year after three major surgeries.
So when British media reported that Raducanu could possibly add Sharapova’s former fitness coach to her team, it drew positive reactions. In her first few years on the Tour, the Briton didn’t have a full-time strength and conditioning coach but usually relied on help from LTA staff.After arriving at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, the current world No. 58 confirmed the Nakamura report was true and underlined that her preseason goal would be to get stronger.
I think my goal next year is to stay on court longer. This year I came to top 60 in the world, but I played I think less than 15 events. I know if I’m on court and healthy and competing, I can go even higher and further. I think that my athleticism is a strength of mine, but it’s nowhere near its full potential. I’m just looking forward to exploring that further, and ready to commit to doing that,” Raducanu said in Malaga.
“While it’s the end of the season for a lot of players, I feel I’m just beginning to kick-start and get things in motion, training really well, training hard, and already building towards next year. I’m not really looking to have any more time off. I’m just looking forward to competing here this week and taking however this goes and improving on it for next year.”
Be the first to comment