COMEBACK QUEEN: RUSEDSKI BACKS EMMA RADUCANU FOR TOP 20 RETURN WITH NEW TEAM
After three surgeries, Emma Raducanu is storming back. Greg Rusedski reveals the three critical things she needs to hit the WTA Top 20 in 2026.
It’s been four years since Emma Raducanu's US Open win as a teenager. Since then, the British No. 1 reached a high of No. 10 in the world but then had three surgeries and an early end to her 2023 season. Now, Raducanu's back on track, jumping from outside the top 300 to No. 29 in under two years.
Greg Rusedski, now a commentator, thinks Raducanu can get back into the top 20. He told Express Sport that she needs a solid setup and a reliable team.
Rusedski said that it all depends on her health, managing expectations, and having the right people around her. He noted Mark Petchey's good work in the summer and Francisco Roig's experience with Rafa Nadal. The key is consistent support while staying healthy and keeping up the pace.
He added that winning the US Open changed everything for her, with about eight coaches coming and going. What she needs is to keep moving forward.
Rusedski wants her to forget the US Open win and stay focused with the team she has now. He believes she can get back into the top 20, though it's a tough road from No. 300 to No. 29, requiring health, consistency, and a good team.
After Raducanu's US Open win, she switched coaches a lot, but now she seems to have found a stable team. She worked with Nick Cavaday, her childhood coach, for a year before he had to leave for health reasons.
She then teamed up with Petchey, who also works as a commentator for the Tennis Channel. Currently, she’s working with Roig, and they plan to continue in 2026. Raducanu is training in Barcelona to get ready for the season.
The 2021 US Open champion has also hired Emma Stewart as her physiotherapist and strength and conditioning coach and works with French chiropractor Jerome Poupel. Rusedski, who is starting the Off Court with Greg podcast, wants Raducanu to have a “consistent base.”
He said that it’s important to have the right team for support during the ups and downs. He mentioned Andy Murray, Rafa, Roger Federer, and current No. 1 Sabalenka as examples of players with consistent teams.
MADRID OPEN HIT BY 17 MAJOR WITHDRAWALS, INCLUDING WORLD STARS CARLOS ALCARAZ AND DJOKOVIC
The Madrid Open field is decimated! With 17 players out, including Alcaraz, Djokovic, and Raducanu, see the full list.
The list of players dropping out of the 2026 Madrid Open has jumped to 17, covering both the women’s and men’s singles draws.
By Saturday, 13 players had already withdrawn. The biggest names? Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Since then, four more women have pulled out, including Grand Slam champs Barbora Krejcikova and Emma Raducanu.
Madrid hosts the first clay-court WTA 1000 of the season and the second ATP Masters 1000 on clay after Monte Carlo. Both tournaments in Madrid have 96-player draws and 32 seeds, who get a first-round bye.
The women’s main draw kicks off Tuesday, and the men’s starts Wednesday. The women’s final is set for Saturday, May 2, and the men wrap things up on Sunday, May 3. Aryna Sabalenka and Casper Ruud won the singles titles last year.
Here’s a closer look at the withdrawals:
ATP Madrid Open withdrawals
Alcaraz, ranked No. 2 in the world and a two-time Madrid champion, misses out again after hurting his wrist in Barcelona. He sat out Madrid last year as well.
World No. 4 Djokovic, who’s won Madrid three times, is out as he recovers from a shoulder injury. The Serb has played only two events this year.
Taylor Fritz, yet to play a clay match in 2026, is the other ATP top-10 player stepping aside.
Here’s the full ATP withdrawal list:
Carlos Alcaraz (world No. 2) – replaced by Sebastian Ofner
Novak Djokovic (world No. 4) – replaced by Adam Walton
Taylor Fritz (world No. 8) – replaced by Roberto Bautista Agut
Holger Rune (world No. 27) – replaced by Francisco Comesana
Sebastian Korda (world No. 43) – replaced by Alexander Shevchenko
Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (world No. 53) – replaced by Alexandre Muller
Arthur Cazaux (world No. 71) – replaced by Alexander Blockx
Kamil Majchrzak (world No. 73) – replaced by Thiago Agustin Tirante
WTA Madrid Open withdrawals
Reports say Emma Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champ and absent since Indian Wells, is out. Barbora Krejcikova, another major winner, is withdrawing too, alongside Sara Bejlek and McCartney Kessler.
Here’s the current WTA withdrawal list:
Emma Navarro (world No. 27) – replaced by Ashlyn Krueger
Emma Raducanu (world No. 29) – replaced by Ajla Tomljanovic
Maya Joint (world No. 30) – replaced by Moyuka Uchijima.
Sara Bejlek (world No. 34) – replaced by Viktorija Golubic
McCartney Kessler (world No. 48) – replaced by Kamilla Rakhimova
Barbora Krejcikova (world No. 52) – replaced by Zeynep Sonmez
Sonay Kartal (world No. 55) – replaced by Petra Marcinko
Varvara Gracheva (world No. 59) – replaced by Eva Lys
Veronika Kudermetova (world No. 62) – replaced by Taylor Townsend
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.
