Emma Raducanu mentality concerns renowned coach – but he still thinks she can return to..

Rick Macci has divulged he finds it “concerning” that Emma Raducanu said she wished she had not won the US Open, while insisting he “wouldn’t write her off” in her comeback.

The legendary coach, who worked with tennis great Serena Williams, believes Raducanu can return to the top 10 by the end of 2025 “if she is all in.”Raducanu missed most of the 2023 season due to injury, having undergone surgery on both her wrists and her ankle in May. The 2021 US Open champion played just 10 matches across five tournaments this year and posted a 5-5 record.The 21-year-old suffered an ankle injury which forced her to retire during her second round match in Auckland in January in her first event of the year. She then lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Coco Gauff, before next competing in Indian Wells almost two months later.The Brit achieved her best result of 2023 in Indian Wells by winning three matches to reach the last 16, where she was beaten by Iga Swiatek. She was then beaten in the opening round in Miami to Bianca Andreescu, before losing to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart in April in her most recent match.Raducanu, who reached a career-high ranking of world No 10 in July 2022, admitted earlier this year that she sometimes wishes she did not win the 2021 US Open.

Speaking in an interview with Tennis Infinity, Macci assessed Raducanu’s prospects ahead of her comeback and identified her mindset as the one area of concern.

“You don’t lose the talent or the skill: you lose the desire. With Emma, the only thing that’s a little concerning [is] when I hear she says, ‘I wish I wouldn’t have won the US Open, because everything changed.’ That’s brutal,” the American said.

“I respect her honesty, but as a little girl, you pick up the racket, you love to play, it’s so innocent. Your goal is to like, ‘I want to be like that someday.’ I want to win tournaments and win a Grand Slam.

“But anybody at that age that can go through qualifying, win the US Open, you got the talent. You got amazing potential mentally, but now it’s all against her.

“So I wouldn’t write her off. But just like [Naomi] Osaka, maybe not this year, but the following year, I think by the end of 2025, she could be top 10 in the world, if she is all in.”

Macci has expressed his desire to coach Raducanu multiple times and asserted that he can help improve her mentality.

“If she’s going to listen to every little thing that is said about her then that doesn’t work, you’ve got to be bulletproof and I can help her with that. You need an ability to forget just as importantly as the ability to remember and she must learn from the adversity she’s faced,” he told The Telegraph last month.

Macci has worked with five players who achieved the world No 1 ranking in their careers: Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Jennifer Capriati and Andy Roddick. The 69-year-old also coached WTA Major champions Mary Pierce, Anastasia Myskina and Sofia Kenin.