Former British tennis star Naomi Cavaday revealed that Emma Raducanu intends to keep her brother Nick Cavaday for the 2025 season and also shared that the 22-year-old is on the verge of officially adding Yutaka Nakamura as her new strength and conditioning coach.
After splitting with five different coaches in two and a half years, the Briton refused to go for a big name in 2024. Instead, she turned to her childhood coach Cavaday. And not only that she went a full season with one coach for the first time, but she also sounded pretty happy whenever asked how she felt about the work they were doing.
Knowing that, it was clear that Raducanu probably wouldn't make any changes in that department ahead of 2025. However, she is still set to get another team member - Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka's former fitness coach Nakamura. The news of the former world No. 10 looking to hire Nakamura were first reported earlier this month.
Now, Naomi Cavaday revealed on The Tennis Podcast that the two already did some work together before the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, where the 2021 US Open winner impressively went 3-3.
Raducanu confirmed rumors in Malaga
Health-wise, 2024 was far better for the 22-year-old than some of the previous seasons. But still, she dealt with certain niggles which stopped her from playing more and probably having an even better comeback year after three major surgeries.
So when British media reported that Raducanu could possibly add Sharapova's former fitness coach to her team, it drew positive reactions. In her first few years on the Tour, the Briton didn't have a full-time strength and conditioning coach but usually relied on help from LTA staff.
After arriving at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, the current world No. 58 confirmed the Nakamura report was true and underlined that her preseason goal would be to get stronger.
"I think my goal next year is to stay on court longer. This year I came to top 60 in the world, but I played I think less than 15 events. I know if I'm on court and healthy and competing, I can go even higher and further. I think that my athleticism is a strength of mine, but it's nowhere near its full potential. I'm just looking forward to exploring that further, and ready to commit to doing that," Raducanu said in Malaga.
"While it's the end of the season for a lot of players, I feel I'm just beginning to kick-start and get things in motion, training really well, training hard, and already building towards next year. I'm not really looking to have any more time off. I'm just looking forward to competing here this week and taking however this goes and improving on it for next year."
What Raducanu said about Cavaday?
In some of her past interviews, the 22-year-old suggested that some of her previous partnership with coaches came to an end because she couldn't get answers to certain questions. So after going through a couple of turbulent coaching changes, she wanted someone with whom she would feel comfortable.
In September, Raducanu dropped some heavy praise on Cavaday when asked how she felt about him.
The relationship with the coach is very good. It's really good to be together. Nick is a competent coach but, more importantly, he is a very good person. I think being with a friend I've known for a long time in a familiar environment is the best environment for me right now, and I value the time with him," the former world No. 10 recently said of her coach.
This year, Raducanu made the Nottingham semifinal - reached the Wimbledon round-of-16 - clinched her first two top-10 wins - and also gained around 250 ranking spots and finished the year inside top-60. All of that in 13 tournaments. Because of that, the Briton is confident she could be a major threat in 2025, if healthy.
"Yeah, I think I started the year off pretty well for the first half, you know up to Wimbledon. Then I struggled a little bit more with my body I think physically. Wasn't able to play the full calendar and stay on court as much as I would have liked. But my assessment is, you, I think sometimes I need reminding, I'm top 60 in the world and I have played less than 15 events, which is pretty unheard of, in a way. I have to pat myself on the back for that. I know I'm a dangerous player. I know no one wants to pull my names in the draw. I take pride in that, and I'm looking forward to hopefully staying on court longer next year," Raducanu said.
