Ex-coach of the former world number one Andy Roddick, Rick
Macci, believes Britian’s
Emma Raducanu can return to top-10 in WTA rankings.
The 22-year-old was once regarded as the next big thing when she lifted the US
Open title at the age of just 18 in 2021.
The most impressive aspect of that triumph was the fact that
she started the competition in the qualifying round and still went on to lift
the title after beating Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in the final in straight sets
with a score of 6-4, 6-3.
Since then, however, Raducanu has struggled to maintain
consistency. The Toronto-born star is currently taking part in the
Miami Open, where she cemented her spot in the quarterfinal after beating America’s Amanda Anisimova
in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-3. Following that performer, the
ex-coach of the former world number one Roddick, Macci, backed Raducanu to
return to the top-10 in WTA rankings. The 70-year-old expressed those opinions
in a post on the social media platform X — previously known as Twitter.
“Emma never lost the talent. You never lose what got you
there on the outside. Over coaching leads to over thinking and creates
restrictive adaptations and can hurt players more than help and they think too
much and put them in a mental vacuum. If Emma plays her Authentic Way top ten
is back in Play. @EmmaRadacanu,” he wrote.
Raducanu, while talking to the media after the match against
Anisimova, stated that she was ‘proud’ of having the ‘competitive spirit’. “The
biggest thing I’m proud of is just finding the competitive spirit and being
there for every ball and drawing that out of myself,” she said. “I think that’s
kind of been missing in the last few months and even a few years at times. Just
feeling a lot of hunger, feeling on the court competitive, wanting to run down
every ball, and that’s the biggest win I would say from this week.”