British tennis star Emma Raducanu has hired Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francisco Roig ahead of the US Open – the eighth of her career to date.
Raducanu has been working with Mark Petchey since the Miami Open in March and he will remain as a ‘close confidant’ to the 22-year-old player.
But Roig, who was in the box for all of Nadal’s 22 Grand Slam singles titles, will replace Petchey as her main coach heading into Flushing Meadows.
Roig, part of Nadal’s team from 2005 to 2022, will start working with Raducanu in Cincinnati after signing a deal until the end of the year.
Petchey had been working as Raducanu’s part-time coach before making himself available on a full-time basis for this year’s grass-court swing.
Since the hard-court swing started, though, Petchey has once again found himself splitting his time between coaching and broadcast commitments.
‘We are very aware she (Raducanu) needs a second coach to come on board and maybe just one coach, not me, as well,’ Petchey said in July.
Emma Raducanu hoping to continue surge
Raducanu, currently ranked world No.33, has been in fine form ahead of the US Open, which she incredibly won as a qualifier four years ago.
The British No.1 reached the semi-finals of the Washington Open last month, where she conjured up wins over seventh-seed Marta Kostyuk, four-time major champion Naomi Osaka and former world No.3 Maria Sakkari.
Roig, a former player who reached a career-high ranking of No.60, will now be hoping to take Raducanu’s game to the next level.
Who is Francisco Roig?
The 57-year-old has built up a reputation as a top technical coach and acted as the No.2 coach to Nadal’s uncle Toni from the beginning of the Spanish legend’s career.
Roig also coached former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini from 2023 to 2024.
The Spanish coach will be aiming to help Raducanu win her first WTA Tour title since her fairytale in New York in 2021.
The US Open – the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of 2025 – gets underway on August 24.
Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Raducanu at Wimbledon this year, is the defending champion in the US Open women’s singles.
Raducanu most recently played at the Canadian Open – where she lost to Wimbledon runner-up Amanda Anisimova in the last 32.
