EXPERT PREDICTION: GREG RUSEDSKI BACKS EMMA RADUCANU TO RE-ENTER WTA TOP 20
Emma Raducanu ended 2025 at World No. 29 and is poised for an early 2026 surge. Analyst Greg Rusedski predicts a Top 20 finish, starting with the United Cup challenge.
Emma Raducanu made good progress in the WTA Rankings in 2025, and she'll have a chance to keep moving up early in 2026.
The Brit cut her ranking in half this year, ending 2025 as world No. 29, after being ranked 58th at the end of 2024. This is Raducanu’s best year-end ranking since 2021, a year she finished as world No. 19 after her US Open win.
Raducanu's current ranking of 29 is her highest since August 2022, before her US Open title points went away. She reached a career-high of world No. 10 in July 2022.
The 23-year-old had a 28-22 record from the 22 tournaments she played in 2025 and has 1,563 WTA ranking points.
Raducanu’s 2025 season started at the Australian Open after she had to withdraw from the WTA 250 tournament in Auckland because of a back injury.
So, she is not defending any points until the Australian Open, where she will be defending 130 points after reaching the third round this year.
This gives Raducanu a solid chance to get more points before the first Grand Slam of the season in Melbourne.
Raducanu will begin her 2026 season at the United Cup, a mixed team competition in Australia where she will be making her first appearance.
Players can earn up to 500 ranking points at the United Cup. Great Britain is in Group E with Japan and Greece.
In the current WTA Rankings, Raducanu is behind Sofia Kenin (No. 28) by 26 points, Dayana Yastremska (No. 27) by 41 points, Marta Kostyuk (No. 26) by 96 points, and Paula Badosa (No. 25) by 113 points.
If Raducanu plays well at the United Cup, she has a good chance to move up in the rankings since she doesn't have many points to defend.
Greg Rusedski has given Emma Raducanu a ranking target for 2026.
In an interview with Tennis365, former world No. 4 Greg Rusedski said he thinks Raducanu will get into the top 20 in 2026.
She has gotten back to where she is in the rankings without playing a full schedule, said the former British No. 1.
So, I think she will get back into the top 20 next year, and the challenge will be to go beyond that and win titles.
Tennis players tend to be on a. They start by winning smaller events, move up the rankings, and then compete for Grand Slams when they reach the top level.
Raducanu now needs to win tournaments. She needs to reach the finals. She hasn’t done that yet, and she needs to start by winning the smaller events on the main tour.
EMMA RADUCANU DROPS TO NO. 29 AS VIRAL ILLNESS DELAYS COMPETITIVE TENNIS RETURN
Emma Raducanu falls to World No. 29. Discover her Madrid Open comeback plans and the viral illness that halted her WTA season.
Emma Raducanu has slipped further down the WTA rankings as she focuses on regaining her full fitness. At 23, she has faced several interruptions since her breakthrough win at the US Open in 2021.
While Raducanu stands out as a major title winner, having claimed her US Open victory after navigating the qualifiers, she reached her highest ranking at No. 10 less than a year later. Since then, she hasn’t added another singles title to her name, working instead on finding steadiness in her game. She’s aiming to kick off her clay-court season at the Madrid Open later this month. Yet, her ranking has dipped ahead of that event, partly because she withdrew from both the Miami Open and the Linz Open.
Currently listed at No. 29, down one spot from 28, Raducanu hasn’t gained ranking points recently due to recovering from a viral illness. Her last appearance was at Indian Wells in March, where she exited in the third round against Amanda Anisimova.
Her decision to miss Miami and Linz came after falling ill. Reports from BBC Sport noted that she started feeling unwell in February but kept competing until she pulled out of the Austrian tournament.
As Raducanu prepares for a potential comeback at Madrid, which kicks off on April 21, Romania’s Sorana Cirstea has moved ahead in the rankings. At 36, Cirstea climbed three places to 26th after reaching the quarter-finals in Linz.
Interestingly, Raducanu and Cirstea met earlier this year at the Transylvania Open final in Cirstea’s home country. Cirstea won decisively, 6-0, 6-2, though Raducanu admitted she wasn’t at her best even before the match started.
“In Cluj, I picked up a virus at the start of the tournament,” Raducanu shared with the Guardian in February. “I was dealing with that and its after-effects... which lasted for three weeks. I’ve been trying to shake it off. The Middle East trip was really tough for me.”
It seems Raducanu is keen to recover fully before stepping back onto the court. Looking back, Aryna Sabalenka took the 2023 Madrid Open title with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Coco Gauff in the final.
JANNIK SINNER TAKES WORLD NO. 1; ALCARAZ CAN RECLAIM LEAD IN BARCELONA
Jannik Sinner is World No. 1! Discover how Carlos Alcaraz can reclaim the top spot at the Barcelona Open this week.
Jannik Sinner’s win over Carlos Alcaraz at the Monte-Carlo Masters wasn't just a big match; it sent Sinner straight back to the world number one ranking. Now, the Italian leads Alcaraz by 440 points after his Monte-Carlo victory.
But the clay season is packed, and with so many tournaments coming up, there’s still plenty of room for the rankings to shift before Roland Garros rolls around.
Alcaraz doesn’t have to wait long for his shot to reclaim the top spot. His next chance comes right away at the Barcelona Open, his home tournament. Last year, Alcaraz made the final in Barcelona, and now he’s set to chase down Sinner again.
Honestly, their Monte-Carlo match didn’t quite live up to the hype. Blame the wind. It was a pretty scrappy three out of ten match, if we’re being honest. Not exactly the fireworks everyone expected.
Still, Sinner and Alcaraz will be only 160 points apart at the start of the Barcelona Open, really close. If Alcaraz wins in Barcelona, he actually jumps above Sinner in the rankings, but just barely. He’d have 13,410 points, Sinner would have 13,400. It’s that tight.
Plus, if the rumours are true and Sinner skips the Madrid Open, Alcaraz could hang onto the top spot pretty easily.
Even with the recent slip in the rankings, Alcaraz shouldn’t be discouraged. He knew Sinner had been playing out of his mind lately and probably expected the rankings to flip. Sinner outplayed him in Monte-Carlo and fully deserved that win.
But there’s a lot of tennis left this spring. Alcaraz is strong on clay and has more chances, especially in Madrid, to rack up points. Neither player competed in Madrid last year, so both have a great shot to stretch their leads.
With Alcaraz picking up extra points in Barcelona, Sinner might not stay number one for long. Expect this battle at the top to keep flipping back and forth; it’s far from over.
