Andy Roddick’s brutal Emma Raducanu comment speaks volumes | Tennis | Sport

The British number one made steady progress in 2025, climbing the rankings to ensure she was a seed in Melbourne. However, she curtailed her season early amid more injury and fitness issues that have plagued her career. Heading into 2026, Raducanu said she wanted to play less, which doesn’t sit well with former US Open champion Roddick, who wants to see her on the court more often. Addressing her defeat to Potapova, he said on his Served podcast: “An upset on paper but I had Raducanu losing, Potapova can play. I love Raducanu, I think she’s wildly intelligent, her game is obviously fantastic.”

But he added: “I read stuff in the off-season, [her] saying, ‘I want to play a little less this year.’ Play less? You’re a Grand Slam champion who’s [ranked] 30 in the world, you’ve got to play more. 

“I want her to want to play more. You don’t know all of it but when you have an off-season to train, you should be coming in pretty healthy. 

“So Emma saying she wants to play less… Earth wants you to play more. You haven’t played a full season. It’s been five years since the [US] Open [win]. At some point we’re going to have to get to it being a job.”

Raducanu had said she wanted to manage her schedule in the interests of her health and well-being. She told the BBC last month: “I would say next year I hope to play less than I did this year.

“But I think also just incorporating into my warm-ups, fitness, so it’s not necessarily just my fitness sessions are like separate. You just have to try and drip feed as much as you can in for the overall health of your body, little and often, I think is the biggest thing that’s helped.”

Raducanu may be reviewing her approach again following her defeat to Potapova. She suggested that the work she is doing with coach Francisco Roig, whom she hired last summer, hasn’t yet established the right formula on court.

She said: “I think I’m going to take a few days, get back home and try and just re-evaluate my game a bit. Watch it back, see where I can improve. 

“What I have been feeling and also what is visually apparent. I definitely want to feel better on certain shots before I start playing again.

“I want to be playing a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I’m playing right now and how I want to be playing is something that I just want to work on.”