Australian Open 2025: Emma Raducanu ‘ready to go’ in Melbourne after back spasm

Raducanu is looking to build on a 2024 season in which she made encouraging progress following surgeries on her wrists and ankle.

However, the injury issues which have blighted her – for most of the time since she stunned the world to win the 2021 US Open as a teenage qualifier – also continued.

At last year’s US Open, a lack of match action led to a rusty first-round exit and a tearful admission afterwards that it was a “lesson learned”.

“I think the difference between this and the US Open is I hadn’t actually trained at all really before the US Open,” said Raducanu, who employed Yutaka Nakamura as a full-time fitness coach in December.

“But I’ve been putting in really good work.”

The former world number 10 added: “The way [Yutaka] has structured our practices and our days has helped me to get into that position where I feel pretty ready.”

In a bid to negate the lack of match practice, Raducanu has played sets against sixth seed Elena Rybakina, of Kazakhstan, and former world number four Caroline Garcia, of France.

“Stepping out with them is great… to see and measure your game and where it is at,” she said.

“This week I’ve played with really top players and felt good on the court. I didn’t feel I was out of my depth at all.

“It definitely gives me confidence but it is another thing putting it on the match court.”