British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

thegingerlightbulb · Intermediate Club Player

Weeks 9&10 - WTA1000 - Indian Wells, USA Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

After an 18.00 start on Stadium 2 tomorrow there is a ladies match, two mens matches a gap and then Sonay not before 1am.

HarryGem · County player

Peter too wrote:
Amanda's power made it hard for Emma to get a clean strike of the ball, once or twice she got into a rally and had better chances to control the play. I wondered if against such a powerful player Emma might have done better to go further back and get a clean stroke and then move in as she got into the rally.

Well Peter one of the more balanced posts on TF agrees with you.

"Stdm 2 is playing considerably slower than the outside courts. Still, this is becoming way too familiar. ER has no plan B when playing against big hitters. I think one of her biggest problems is she is standing too close to the baseline to play these players. She should drop back at least 10' to receive their big 1st serve like the men do, and back at least 5' to rally. This will give her more time to inject variety into her returns like throwing up high loopy balls to disrupt their rhythm. She can't play the "take the ball early" baseline bashing game against the likes of AA because their balls are often heavy and deep, jamming up against her right at the baseline so she can't hit with much power, making her returns short allowing them to hit winner after winner on her. Standing further back will allow her more time and more options in rallies. She should watch how players like Osorio and Andreeva play these players and learn.

Also I hope this convinces her to ditch that Wilson racquet ASAP for Yonex. That racquet is okay for junior tennis but will never give her enough power against the much bigger hitters of WTA."

Don't know if anyone would like to comment on the racquet comment too?

Maybe we just have to accept that Emma just isn't that good? Good enough to be able to beat players say ranked 40-100 fairly consistently but she just seems to collapse against players ranked inside the top 15. Doesn't mean she can't have a decent career but I think she is going to struggle to win another tournament unless she can adapt her game a bit more with more variety of shot. Barty, for eg, wasn't the biggest hitter on tour but she had one of the most varied games which troubled other players a lot.

Obviously happiness and health are very important and if Emma feels her best way is not to have a full time coach then fair enough. But last night exposed that strategy really, as it was clear she had no plan to cope with a far superior player. Really quite an embarrassing loss in under an hour. The difference in ranking looked more like 100 places than the 20 odd it is currently. Nothing wrong with losing to a top player but the manner of the defeat alongside other similar defeats is a concern.

Shhh · Challenger level

When Emma first played after her US Open victory, she seemed capable of winning 1,2 or occasionally 3 matches at tournaments, but no more. That does not really seem to have been improved upon. Has her game grown...has she improved? The results more or less seem to stay the same?

-- Edited by Shhh on Monday 9th of March 2026 06:49:58 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

thegingerlightbulb wrote:
So...a new coach I guess?

LOL

Pollie McPollface · Tennis legend

Ive wondered, and dont take this as a knock as I like Emma and want to see her do well. To what extent was her US Open win down to Covid? It was 2021, the players werent maybe as sharp and focused as normal, did Emma take advantage of a lull in the game? Fernandez came through the same event and hasnt really done loads since.

Its often bothered me that maybe she just happened to have a career week (or summer, given her grass form that summer) when the majority of the tour just werent on it.

Hope that is wrong and irrelevant.

Var · Futures level

I am with HarryG on this. At this stage in her career I dont think Emma has the power to cope with the top 10 players. That said, Amanda recorded the fastest average backhand in the US Open last year at 77mph, against the second, Sinner at 76 mph. Sabalenka was 71 mph. However I dont personally feel Amanda has reached her stellar 2025 form yet, so maybe this is a turning point for her. Disappointing but not unexpected, the Emma saga continues. I for one need to temper my expectations when Emma beats a lower ranked player and focus on her performances against the players in the top 30. She beat Amanda a couple of years ago but that was a different Amanda, struggling with her mental health following the death of her father. Now she has recovered and is reaching her potential using her power play. I have to say I love to watch her game and looking forward to her lifting her first slam this year.

-- Edited by Var on Monday 9th of March 2026 08:18:05 AM

-- Edited by Var on Monday 9th of March 2026 09:48:16 AM

korriban · Challenger level

I watched most of the match and it was an extremely difficult watch TBF. The gulf in power was just extraordinary - hats off to Amanda for not only her tremendous ball-striking, but also the consistency and control which she now exhibits week in week out. Emma was unable to return serve with any depth or placement (or not at all on many occasions) and on her own serve was also under-powered and error-strewn. If you place a shots consistently short and with little power, a player like Amanda will deal with you in short order, and thats what happened last night. I may be wrong but I think Emma failed to generate a single break point throughout and was in trouble in every service game.

Such is the gulf against top 10-20 players, that I agree with many of you - Emma needs a radical re-think. With a new coach. If any coach is prepared to work with her, given the runaround that most of them have been given -wasting their time.

She is a perfectly decent player - ranked 25-50 - and there is no shame in that. If she hadnt won the US Open, nobody would be scratching their heads wondering whats gone wrong and how can she rediscover her best self. Ive pondered many a time how she achieved that extraordinary feat at Flushing all those years ago! iMO the way she played those 3 weeks she would almost certainly have beaten any player she faced, even top 5 players. Yes the draw opened up for her, exactly as it did for Marion Bartoli for her Wimbledon triumph. Yes she had zero pressure on her. Yes none of her opponents will have had much in the way of intel on her to devise a winning game plan. But she was fearless, and played a brand of attacking tennis that was a pleasure to behold.

I cant explain why she is a shadow of the player we saw at that US Open, why she seems to play a counter-attacking style now with (it seems) far less power and intent than she did on her dream run. I suspect neither can she. I cant explain why, on the back of limited success and no tournament wins in the last 5 years she has just picked up a massive UniQlo contract (well I can explain, but it doesnt have much to do with tennis). And I cant explain why she burns through coaches at a rate of knots that even Spurs would be proud of, and despite access to top notch health, physio and fitness support has a lengthening record of illnesses, injuries, MTOs and retirements - perhaps finding the right coach and support team finally, sticking to it for 3 or 4 years (without second-guessing them and herself every 6 months) is the key to giving it a proper go.

5 years on, Im less confident that I was 3years ago that she will find the answers - but a match like yesterday SURELY has to give her food for thought that radical changes are a must. Wishing her well, as always

Peter too · Tennis legend

Shhh wrote:
When Emma first played after her US Open victory, she seemed capable of winning 1,2 or occasionally 3 matches at tournaments, but no more. That does not really seem to have been improved upon. Has her game grown...has she improved? The results more or less seem to stay the same?

-- Edited by Shhh on Monday 9th of March 2026 06:49:58 AM

She won four matches in a row last month in reaching the final of the Transylvania Open.

paulisi · Tennis legend

There is a big gulf between top 10 and the next lot.
Emma is correctly ranked, with only a small upside at the moment.
I could see her getting to 15 possibly, but not much higher.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Pollie McPollface wrote:
Ive wondered, and dont take this as a knock as I like Emma and want to see her do well. To what extent was her US Open win down to Covid? It was 2021, the players werent maybe as sharp and focused as normal, did Emma take advantage of a lull in the game? Fernandez came through the same event and hasnt really done loads since.

Its often bothered me that maybe she just happened to have a career week (or summer, given her grass form that summer) when the majority of the tour just werent on it.

Hope that is wrong and irrelevant.

There were three young players with huge promise born within a few months of each other. They are all well up in the rankings but not yet in the very top group. Clara Tauson WR17 has three titles and a career high of 12 best Grand Slam - R4 twice, Emma Raducanu WR24 has one title and a career high of 10 best Grand Slam - Win, Leylah Fernandez WR27 has 5 titles and a career high of 13 Best Grand Slam - Runner up.

Both Emma and Clara have won tournaments as qualifiers without dropping a set.

-- Edited by Peter too on Monday 9th of March 2026 05:06:04 PM