Emma Raducanu started the 2025 season with an interesting mix of results, though surely not impressive according to Mark Petchey, former coach of Andy Murray. Despite the underwhelming results since her iconic US Open win in 2021, Emma Raducanu remains one of the most promising tennis players in the world.
She's widely touted as a star in the making as winning a Grand Slam is no mean achievement and it can be argued that it certainly doesn't happen if a player doesn't have the skills for it. However, since her US Open triumph, it's been a rather lackluster period on the court.
That trend hasn't changed much in 2025. A couple of good wins in Melbourne but then a rather disappointing end in Singapore. Following her loss at the Singapore Open, Raducanu has copped criticism from former player and the former coach of Andy Murray, Mark Petchey.
“For the first time, I would say that when I watched her in Australia and she got through to the third round, I didn't really like her tennis. And that's the first time I could honestly say that," Petchey told Jeffbet.
Petchey went on to say that he still appreciates her athleticism, but the serve has looked somewhat awkward lately, which is not a good sign as that wasn't the case in the past.
"Emma's serve from round one looked a little awkward and I've never thought that about her game ever. That would be my biggest concern. I'm not ever concerned about her athleticism. I know she's a great athlete. It very quickly becomes quite a mental thing to overcome because if you lose confidence, particularly in your serve, it can become sort of terminal. It is the most important shot in men's and women's tennis and you don’t want to lose confidence in that for too long.”
While the former US Open winner has struggled for form, Raducanu is unwilling to give up and wants to keep fighting to build a winning momentum.
"I just got to keep building and moving on" - Emma Raducanu after her Singapore exit
The match in Singapore wasn't a good one for Raducanu. She had a chance to move into the round of 16 but ultimately Cristina Bucsa proved a bit too strong for the Brit. Still, it was a hard-fought loss (7-5, 5-7, 5-7), and Raducanu was happy with that because she is constantly in search of "match-competitive situations.
"For me to be playing this kind of match, all I need is time on court and a match-competitive situation, which I got today. I got it in abundance -- over three hours of it -- so, for me, it's really valuable because every match I play, I feel like it's a win. And I fought really hard. I gave everything. So I just got to keep building and moving on," Raducanu told ESPN after the loss.
On the other hand, Bucsa failed to keep up the winning momentum and lost to Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand 4-6, 4-6 in the round of 16.