Emma Raducanu’s former coach, Mark Petchey, recently outlined the goals she needs to achieve before starting her 2026 Grand Slam season. Petchey joined the 22-year-old’s team on an informal basis in March 2025, and their collaboration ended in August 2025.
This year, at the Grand Slam tournaments, Raducanu reached the third round at the Australian Open, Wimbledon Championships, and US Open, where she was defeated by Iga Świątek, Aryna Sabalenka, and Elena Rybakina, respectively. At the French Open, she was eliminated in the second round by Świątek.
What Did Mark Petchey Say About Emma Raducanu’s 2026 Grand Slam Season?
In a recent interview with BetVictor, Petchey mentioned the goals Raducanu should focus on as she approaches the 2026 Australian Open. He noted that her first objective during the ongoing Asian swing of the tour is to improve her world ranking so that she is seeded at the Melbourne Major.
“If I was Emma, I’d have like three targets. Number one would be to get inside the top 32. I don’t think that you need to be anything more than that. I think it needs to be inside 32 to be seeded for the Australian Open at the back end of the Asian swing. That would be the goal. So, whether that’s 25 or comfortably inside, don’t have to stress, know you’re going to be seeded,” Petchey said.
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The 55-year-old suggested that it would be ideal if Raducanu gets seeded around 25; otherwise, she risks facing one of the top four seeds in the tournament’s third round.
“A seeding around 25 will be better than 28 to 32 because otherwise you have the potential to play those top four seeds in the third round. Ideally, 27 and lower would be like the number one goal from the whole of the Asian swing,” he continued.
Petchey mentioned that Raducanu’s second goal should be to improve her game more to become “more impactful” and be capable of defeating the top players in the sport.
“Number two goal is obviously to feel that your game can be more impactful, more often. She’s obviously been taking care of the players that she knows she can beat and some of the players that were ranked ahead of her. But obviously she will look to be more impactful,” he said.
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For her third goal, Petchey stated that Raducanu needs to continue focusing on her “serve” to ensure she gets the maximum benefit from it.
“And number three, to keep working on that serve; to keep making sure she’s getting the maximum out of it. Everyone wants to talk about the fact that it can be better but there will be a limit on it just because of how tall she is. All she can do is keep working on it and make it the best that it can become subject to the natural restrictions of physics and geometry,” Petchey added.
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Raducanu is currently in Seoul, competing at the 2025 Korea Open. She received a wildcard entry into the main draw and is seeded eighth in the tournament. She defeated Jaqueline Cristian 6-3, 6-4 in the first round to advance to the second round, where she will face Barbora Krejčíková.
