Emma Raducanu repays favour to American billionaire as slump begins
Emma Raducanu's lack of activity in recent weeks has led to frustrating consequences.
British No.1 Emma Raducanu has suffered a slump down the WTA rankings as she continued her tennis hiatus this past week. And she's taken a leaf out of Emma Navarro's book after it was the billionaire heiress' own absence that helped Raducanu's rise.
The former US Open champion has enjoyed a steady climb up the WTA's pecking order with some encouraging results in 2026. But she has slid down five places to 28th in the world after missing the Miami Open due to illness. Raducanu made it to the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 event last year. However, her absence from the 2026 draw has led to her losing 185 rankings points as a result. The 23-year-old reached a career-high ranking of 10th in July 2022, one year after her sole major title at Flushing Meadows. She tumbled back down to a low of No. 285 towards the tail end of 2023 as a rash of injuries and absences prevented her from gaining any momentum.
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That's all in the past now, it seems, following a string of hopeful outings so far this year. But missing Miami has had a big impact as the likes of Marta Kostyuk, Marie Bouzkova and Navarro herself moved back above the Brit.
It was earlier in March that Navarro's own dip inadvertently helped boost Raducanu's placement. The American has lost her opening match in each of her last three WTA tournament appearances.
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The most recent of those came at the Austin 125 event in Texas three weeks ago. However, Raducanu's plummet has been so severe that even not playing, Navarro has managed to make some vertical progress.
Navarro, 24, is one of four children in line to inherit a piece of the £2.4billion financial empire built by her father, Ben. As well as owning the Cincinnati Open and Charleston Open, Navarro Sr is founder of the Beemok investment firm and a minority owner of Credit One banking.
In some ways, that fact makes her elite qualities around the tennis court all the more impressive. And despite her current malaise, she's displayed enough in the past to suggest she'll rediscover her best.
Raducanu hasn't been in action since she endured a second-round defeat to Amanda Anisimova at Indian Wells at the beginning of March. She suffered a 6-1, 6-1 loss in one-sided fasion prior to her hiatus.
The prospect has also had her latest change of coach after re-employing Mark Petchey just before Indian Wells. She was working alongside Rafael Nadal's former coach, Fernando Roig, before their split was confirmed.
