She plays her best tennis in a positive environment but her setup at the Miami Open is unlikely to be for the long term
Not long before she was due on court for one of the more significant occasions of her career so far, Emma Raducanu was pictured surrounded by her temporary team of the week – Jane O’Donoghue, Mark Petchey and Yutaka Nakamura – on the player warmup lawn inside the hulking Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. While many players try to enjoy a quiet moment alone in their own thoughts before being called on to court, team Raducanu were preoccupied by an epic spikeball battle.
At one point during the game, which involves players rebounding a ball against a springy, circular target between them with their hands, Petchey threw himself on the ground in a doomed attempt to save the point. They were all soon doubled over with laughter.