Analytics & Stats Tennis Coaching WTA

Raducanu settles into a steadier routine at US Open with coach Francisco Roig

Raducanu is embracing disciplined practice with Francisco Roig and showing improved match sharpness.

Published

6 months ago

August 27, 2025

Emma Raducanu produced one of her cleanest performances of the season in a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Janice Tjen on Wednesday, and the scoreboard only told part of the story. The more revealing detail was the tone from the sideline, where new coach Francisco Roig kept up a steady stream of instructions, including an offhand line that stuck with Raducanu: “That’s normal.”

Raducanu admits she does not always catch everything he says. “You don’t really hear it unless you’re kind of lip-reading,” she says of Roig’s flow of chatter from the sidelines. Still, the message was clear during a first-set stretch when Raducanu led 3-0 and repeatedly chose to maintain pressure rather than coast. That approach helped her remove Tjen’s big forehand from play and put the younger player on the defensive.

Statistically the match was as tidy as Raducanu could have hoped for: eight aces, zero double faults, 79 percent of first serves in and 76 percent of points won on those serves. She finished with 16 winners to eight unforced errors and was not broken.

Raducanu called Tjen a “dangerous” opponent and noted she stayed vigilant throughout. “Of course I was on full alert playing today,” Raducanu said. “I thought any ball that I put mid-court was going to be punished. So I’m very pleased with how I kept dictating the points, I kept dictating the play, and didn’t let her too often get her front foot on the court.”

The pairing with Roig is new this summer and has already ramped up the work. They added an extra hour of practice after her first-round match, and Raducanu believes the recent emphasis is paying off. “I feel in the last few weeks I’ve really kind of stepped up with what I’m doing,” she said. “I’m really happy with the people I have in my corner.”

“Francis is a very good coach, and a man who can help Raducanu improve technically—he puts a lot of attention on this,” Toni Nadal told the BBC earlier this month.

Raducanu acknowledged a brief twinge of stiffness in her back late in the match but shrugged it off. “I’ve been doing a lot of training, and I’m just happy it didn’t affect me too much in the second set,” she said. “I think that from now on, I’m just going to focus on staying sharp and still practicing when I need to.”

With Roig emphasizing technique and routine, Raducanu appears to be settling into a clearer daily pattern as she prepares for the next round, where she could face Elena Rybakina.

Related Topics:Emma Raducanu Francisco Roig Janice Tjen

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Gauff leans into topspin and pace with a simple mantra: trust and accelerate

Gauff trusts more racquet-head speed, using topspin and pace to improve her serve and forehand more.

Published

1 month ago

January 23, 2026

IN Tennis Times

For nearly the first hour of her second-round match on Friday, Coco Gauff watched Hailey Baptiste play the way Gauff has been trying to play. Baptiste, a longtime junior friend ranked 67 spots behind Gauff and with 11 fewer titles, captured the first set 6-3 by snapping serves into the corners and following them with inside-out forehands struck with pace and heavy topspin.

“She was dictating a lot, especially on her forehand side,” Gauff said of that opening set. “I was just trying my best to neutralize that.”

Gauff’s path back was not to outgun Baptiste in raw power. “I thought I served better in the second and third set, got more first serves in,” she said, and, “Overall I think just trying to put her on the back foot and not me being on the back foot.” She lost the opening set but answered with a 6-0 second set and closed 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Gauff entered the match less smooth in certain areas: she hit her serve five m.p.h. slower, produced 12 fewer winners and committed six more double faults than her opponent. Still, she turned it by running, cutting her unforced errors to 22 against Baptiste’s 38, attacking with her backhand and winning 83 percent of her first-serve points. At a tense 30-30 late in the third, she finished a rally with an inside-out forehand winner.

She accepts that the serve and forehand will be inspected and insists progress is gradual. “I think at this point I have the right motion,” Gauff said after beating Baptiste. “I feel like I’m working on the right things. Now it’s just trying to, I guess, erase old demons and actually do it.” “There was moments today I was definitely nervous, and I felt like I’m getting better with each match dealing with that on those pressure moments.”

As one legendary player put it: “Racquet-head speed is your friend.” Gauff has rediscovered that topspin and faster racquet-head speed can coexist. “For me, I just felt like I had to hit flatter to hit bigger,” she says. “I’ve always thought for some reason in my head that hitting shape was more defensive, and I realized that you can be really offensive and aggressive hitting with shape,” says Gauff, using “shape” to mean spin and arc. The biggest change for Gauff in 2026, she says, is “just trusting and accelerating.” She will next face Grand Slam finalist Karolina Muchova, with the potential third-round meeting against Mirra Andreeva awaiting the winner.

Analytics & Stats Player News WTA

Anisimova Enters WTA Top 3 and Becomes the New American No. 1

Amanda Anisimova rises to No. 3 in the WTA rankings and becomes the top American player. ©Prange2025

Published

2 months ago

January 5, 2026

IN Tennis Times

Amanda Anisimova rises to a career-high No. 3 in the latest WTA rankings, marking her first appearance inside the Top 3 and establishing her as the top-ranked American player. She moves up from No. 4 while Coco Gauff drops from No. 3 to No. 4, a swap driven by this week’s points adjustments.

There were no tournaments last week, but points from Week 1 of 2025 have dropped off the rankings. Anisimova remains on 6,287 ranking points. Gauff’s total falls from 6,763 to 6,273 after last year’s United Cup results are removed. The net effect places Anisimova ahead of Gauff and makes her the highest-ranked American on either the ATP or WTA lists; Gauff is now the second-highest-ranked American.

Anisimova’s climb carries additional historical notes. She becomes just the third player born in the 2000s to reach the Top 3 in WTA history, and the fifth player born in that decade to achieve a Top 3 ranking across either the WTA or ATP. She is also the 15th American woman to reach the Top 3 since WTA rankings began in 1975. For context, 11 American men have reached the Top 3 since ATP rankings were introduced in 1973.

Other notable ranking changes this week include Linda Noskova moving from No. 13 to a personal best of No. 12. Clara Tauson slips from No. 12 to No. 14; Noskova lost her second match in Brisbane a year ago while Tauson won the Auckland title at the same time last season. Cristina Bucsa makes her Top 50 debut, rising from No. 51 to No. 50. Anastasia Potapova drops from No. 50 to No. 55; Bucsa lost in the first round in Brisbane last year while Potapova reached the third round.

Analytics & Stats Player News WTA

Hsieh Su-wei at 40: Four decades distilled into 40 defining numbers

Hsieh Su-wei turns 40: 40 milestones from No. 1 doubles weeks to Grand Slam and tour titles. Today!

Published

2 months ago

January 4, 2026

IN Tennis Times

Hsieh Su-wei celebrates her 40th birthday with a resume few peers can match. A concise selection of career milestones captures the arc of a player who has excelled in doubles, enjoyed late-career singles highlights and returned to the tour with sustained success.

She first reached No. 1 in doubles on May 12, 2014, becoming the first Taiwanese player to reach the top spot in tennis in either women’s or men’s, singles or doubles. She claimed two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2024 alongside Jan Zielinski; those were their first and third tournaments together. Her three WTA singles titles came in 2012 (Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou) and 2018 (Hiroshima).

Hsieh has won Grand Slam women’s doubles titles with four different partners: two with Peng Shuai, and one each with Barbora Strycova, Elise Mertens and Wang Xinyu. She has five Wimbledon titles, including four in women’s doubles (2013 with Peng, 2019 with Strycova, 2021 with Mertens and 2023 with Strycova) and one mixed in 2024 with Zielinski.

Her WTA Finals record features six appearances and a title in 2013 with Peng; she reached the semifinals in 2025 with Jelena Ostapenko. Across Grand Slams she owns seven women’s doubles majors, plus two mixed doubles majors. Indian Wells stands out among her 13 WTA 1000 doubles titles, winning it four times in 2014 (with Peng), 2018 (with Strycova), 2021 and 2014 (with Mertens).

Other highlights: she has 36 doubles wins in 2025 (36-18), 37 career tour-level doubles titles (35 women’s, two mixed), and 40 career tour-level titles overall (three singles, 35 women’s doubles and two mixed). She spent 59 weeks at No. 1 in doubles and is one of only 18 women to log 50 or more weeks at the top. Her Top 10 and Top 15 singles victories mostly arrived in her 30s, including her first Top 10 singles win at Roland Garros in 2017 and a landmark win over reigning No. 1 Simona Halep at Wimbledon in 2018.

Early markers include a perfect 30-0 start below tour level at 15 in 2001 and her first Grand Slam doubles title at Wimbledon in 2013. She retired from singles in 2024 after Miami. Hsieh is the top seed in doubles in Brisbane this week alongside Jelena Ostapenko.