Emma Raducanu has landed many endorsement deals early in her career. Yet, becoming an ambassador for the London borough of Bromley might be her dream sponsorship.

During a chat with tennis reporters after a tough but rewarding season, Raducanu was just trying to describe her quiet off-season at home when she started promoting Bromley. “I feel so settled here,” she said. “I haven’t been in the UK much this year because of competitions, but spending time with my parents has been great. I’ve loved being in Bromley. It reminds me of being a kid—same bedroom, everything.”

“Bromley now has these great coffee shops that didn’t used to be here. I’ve been trying them all. It’s been fun, with so much green space, and I’ve been taking the train. I’ve been in rush hour every day, which is something. But it’s my way to switch off. As soon as I’m on the train to Waterloo, I feel like my day is done.”

The peace Raducanu talks about comes after a good, if not amazing, season where she moved forward. She climbed from outside the top 60 to number 29 in 2025, her best ranking since 2022. This year, she played more often with fairly steady results.

She’s also worked to stabilise her team, which has been a problem. She seems to be doing well with her coach, Francisco Roig, who used to coach Rafael Nadal. She’ll start the 2026 season with a new physiotherapist and strength coach, Emma Stewart, who has experience in tennis and recently worked with the British Rowing team.

Lately, though, she’s been trying not to think about tennis. After ending her season early in Asia due to illness, she spent time improving her Chinese while visiting family in her mother’s home country and her Spanish at Roig’s suggestion, along with French. “I was trying to do everything,” she said, smiling. “I need rest days from my rest days. It takes a lot.”

As the 2021 US Open champ talked about learning languages, someone from her team joked that she now sends him texts in French, even though he doesn’t speak it. “It’s funny because I start mixing languages,” Raducanu said. “I’ll say a sentence in three different languages and not even know what I’m saying. But it’s been great for me to focus on something else and use my brain. It’s the best thing for me, and I feel pretty good, just trying to improve off the court.”

Besides good results, 2025 had tough times. In February, Raducanu had issues with someone who was fixated on her, which made headlines. These events affected her confidence. She once said her neck hurt from looking down in public to avoid being recognised. “Now it doesn’t. My neck doesn’t hurt as much. I’m not looking down as much. My posture is better,” she said, laughing. “But I think, ‘Are they going to see me on the train?’ It’s not so bad.”

Raducanu’s comfort in the city during the off-season shows she’s moved past the incident. “I’ve gotten over it,” she said. “What bothered me was seeing a photo of myself in London, and I didn’t see the paparazzi. I was with my two best friends. This happened last week, and some tabloid said I had a new boyfriend. But he’s my best friend’s brother. I thought, ‘Come on, guys. Get it right.’ I was with my best friend’s brother, and we were going to the rugby. They cropped my best friend out, so it was just me and me, and I didn’t see the paparazzi. That’s creepy. How did they take that photo? Other than that, I feel good knowing someone’s always watching out for me.”

Off the court, 2025 was a tough year in tennis. The latest discussions are about the long season, with players saying it’s too hard. But Raducanu has other ideas compared to players like Iga Swiatek, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and fellow British number one, Jack Draper.

“I think it’s a challenge,” she said. “I don’t think we should complain because that’s what we have. We earn a good living, too. It’s not always great. It’s hard sometimes, and we’re tired mentally and physically, and everything hurts. But what can we do? Some people have bosses who make them do things, but they have to do their job. If we don’t complain, it sets a better example for younger people who want to play tennis. If they see top players complaining about the schedule, it’s not inspiring.”

Next time Raducanu plays, she’ll join her friend Draper in the United Cup, a mixed-gender team event in Australia that starts the season. Before that, she’ll start training hard this week with Roig in Barcelona to build on what she did in 2025, improve her shots, and get closer to the top players.

“I had some tough times on and off the court early in the year,” she said. “But it taught me how strong I am and what I need to do to avoid going back there. I need to spend time learning and taking care of my mind. Learning about myself has been great, so I feel good.”