As Emma Raducanu gears up for her highly anticipated campaign at the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, one of the coaches who knows her game best has delivered his verdict on her chances of winning another Grand Slam title.
Mark Petchey first worked with Raducanu in the summer of 2020, before her historic triumph at the 2021 US Open. He later reunited with the Brit for a four-month stint beginning at the 2025 Miami Open and rejoined her camp on a temporary basis during the 2026 Indian Wells Open while she searched for a permanent coaching solution.
Mark Petchey Explains What Emma Raducanu Needs to Do to Win Another Grand Slam
Raducanu has been under scrutiny over her inability to win a tour-level title ever since her fairytale run at the 2021 US Open. Speaking to the Press Association ahead of Wimbledon, Petchey expressed his belief that the 23-year-old has been unfairly judged following her breakthrough victory, given that anything short of another Grand Slam title is viewed as a disappointment.
“I love Emma to bits. I’ll take a bullet for her. I think her situation is so unique. I don’t envy her life, being judged every single week on a result that happened five years ago, that was an amazing story, was an absolute fairy tale. She’s a hell of a tennis player. But it’s challenging because, if you don’t win another one, it’s deemed a sub-optimal outcome,” Petchey said.
Petchey highlighted the immense challenge of growing up in the spotlight, while calling out the critics who have questioned the way Raducanu has managed her career since winning her Major title.
“And I think, for her, it’s been a very hard process to grow up as an 18-year-old, in the glare of the spotlight, with everything that came – everyone would have done the same, but they say they wouldn’t have done the same,” he added. “That’s the thing that I find really hard, the cognitive dissonance from people.”
Petchey, who has also coached Andy Murray, further expressed faith in Raducanu’s ability to win another Grand Slam, but he cautioned against trying to find a “shortcut” back to the player she was in 2021.
“She can win another one for sure, I’ve always believed that about her. If she can find a way to just do the ordinary in an extraordinary way, every single day, and not look for a shortcut back to where she was in ’21, she’ll be fine,” he said.
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No. 30 seed Emma Raducanu, who is now working with Andrew Richardson, the coach who guided her to her US Open title, will kick off her Wimbledon campaign against Antonia Ružić. If she wins, the Brit will meet the winner of the match between Harriet Dart and Jeļena Ostapenko in the second round.
Drawn in the same quarter as Aryna Sabalenka, Raducanu could face the world No. 1 in the third round if both players progress.
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