Emma Raducanu lifts lid on new secret weapon as Mark Petchey link-up pays off
Emma Raducanu is through to the quarter-final at the Queen's Club.
Emma Raducanu has revealed her new secret weapon after putting in the hard yards with Mark Petchey. The world No. 37 reunited with Petchey at the Miami Open earlier this year on a whim. The pair enjoyed a 10-day training block at the end of the tournament, and Raducanu made some crucial changes to her serve.
The former US Open champion is still getting used to the new service motion, but it’s been handy this week at Queen’s. Raducanu is through to the quarter-final after dropping just eight games in her first two matches, and she will return to British No. 1 for the first time in two years when the rankings update next week.
Raducanu stormed into the last eight at the new WTA 500 event at Queen’s on Thursday. She raced into a 5-0 lead over Rebecca Sramkova in the first set and went on to win 6-4 6-1 with Petchey and Nick Cavaday watching courtside.
It came just two days after Raducanu got revenge on Cristina Bucsa, who beat her in Singapore earlier this year, with a dominant 6-1 6-2 victory in just over an hour.
The world No. 37's serve has looked strong this week and she believes she has been seeing the benefits after working with Petchey to make it a big weapon.
“I changed my action from a shorter action earlier on in the year. It's a lot longer. I'm still kind of finding out the rhythm and the timing of it, because it is longer, which means, you know, I don't have as much time with the ball toss. It's balancing that,” the 22-year-old said.
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“But I think the more I practice it and do it every day, I think the more I will click into it. But I know this action has a higher potential and higher ceiling than the other one, so I think I need to stick with it for a bit.
“Yeah, I'm happy to also get some good kind of payoffs from the work we have been doing on the grass courts where the courts are slightly faster and it takes the serves well.”
Explaining why she decided to make a change, Raducanu continued: “As I set into it, I think in bigger moments, it's easier to kind of stay loose through it. Whereas the other one, if you're a little bit tense, tight, it's probably harder, because you're kind of manually lifting your arm up rather than it flowing with gravity.
“So I think that's one benefit. I think the other is if I practice it more, I think I can probably get better trajectory and angles in the court. So, yeah, I'm working on that, but, I mean, I still think there is a long way to go on it.”
Raducanu has also had a chance to work on her game in the doubles this week, playing two matches with Katie Boulter before their run came to an end in Wednesday’s quarter-final.
And the world No. 37 felt the benefits of getting some extra reps in the doubles. She added: “I think the time I spent on the doubles court for sure helped me for my first round here, and I think it can improve my volley skills.
“Today I picked off a few great volleys, I wasn't really thinking, but it happened, like, naturally and it was instinctive, and that could have maybe been a part of playing some dubs.”
