Francis Roig was part of Rafael Nadal’s team between 2005 and 2022, while he recently worked with former Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, but can he turn Emma Raducanu’s Grand Slam fortunes around ahead of the US Open?

The 22-year-old worked with British coach Mark Petchey on an informal basis since March but because he retains a number of TV commitments which prevent him from coaching Raducanu on a full-time basis, she has now added Roig to her team.

Spanish coach Roig worked alongside Nadal and with Nadal’s uncle Toni for the majority of his career, during which he won 22 Grand Slams.

The 57-year-old later worked alongside both Carlos Moya and Marc Lopez after ‘Uncle Toni’ stepped back in 2017.

After leaving Nadal’s team, Roig initially started working with former US Open champion Sloane Stephens, and most recently spent 10 months in charge of 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini.

The partnership proved to be a fruitful one with Berrettini winning titles in Marrakech, Gstaad, and Kitzbuhel under Roig’s guidance.

He joins Raducanu’s coaching set-up as she looks to secure a top-32 seeding for this month’s US Open, live on Sky Sports.

She has not had a permanent coach since Nick Cavaday stepped aside for health reasons in January, although he re-joined her team, which included Petchey and mentor Jane O’Donoghue for the grass-court season.

Raducanu has previously worked with a wide range of coaches including Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson – who was in charge during her run to the US Open title in 2021 – Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs.

Earlier this year, Raducanu ended a trial with Slovakian coach Vladimir Platenik after just two weeks.

The Briton has reached the last eight at the Miami Open, the fourth round at the Italian Open, the quarter-finals at Queen’s Club followed by a round-three exit to Aryna Sabalenka at Wimbledon and a semi-final showing at the Citi Open in Washington DC.

‘Roig one of the best appointments’

Former British No 1 Annabel Croft has called Roig “one of the best appointments” of Raducanu’s career.

“I think he’s a very good appointment, one of the best appointments,” Croft said. “Anyone who has had that much experience with Rafael Nadal, it’s incredible. I’ve always admired him, I always thought somebody like him might be perfect for her. So I’m excited about the fact she’s chosen him.

“He’s very disciplined and detailed. I think if she likes technical advice, which I think she does, I remember watching him many times with Rafael Nadal discussing the swing path, he’s clearly very technically minded but all Spanish coaches are so good tactically as well.”

Commentator Jonathan Overend admits Raducanu has “caught everyone by surprise” with the appointment of the Spaniard.

“It’s an appointment which is a little bit of a surprise mostly because of the reasons she talked about when she was enjoying her spell with Mark Petchey and Jane O’Donoghue, she talked about the need to really get along with the members of her team, for the atmosphere to be good, and almost playful in a way and it did feel when the atmosphere is like that and she feels relaxed, maybe that’s what brings the best out of her,” said Overend.

“To go for a coach with a lot more experience in the game, a foreign coach, not for the first time of her career, she’s looking to draw on the experience Roig has.

“There must be something about the relationship which clicked when she spoke to him because it would be a huge surprise if she went with someone with whom the atmosphere maybe goes to how it was with some of her previous coaches. I’m not saying that wouldn’t work but it would be a surprise given her words during the Petchey experiment.”

Behind every great player…

Overend reflected on all the great players having a constant figure in the background, pointing to Novak Djokovic working with Marian Vajda, Roger Federer with Severin Luthi and Nadal with Roig.

He said: “Roig was the guy who was in the practice courts, behind the scenes, offering a lot of the strategic advice. Undoubtedly, he has a wealth of experience that he can bring to Emma Raducanu as she continues to develop her game.”

The US Open begins later this month and Raducanu revealed that she is working with Roig on certain areas to improve.

She said: “I’m working on the quality of my shots to be better. I think against the very top that’s what it needs, it needs to improve.

“So I’m hoping that with time – I’m pretty patient, I’m going to try and be pretty patient – that it’ll improve.”

Raducanu is currently ranked world No 39 and has won 23 of her 39 WTA matches in 2025 with momentum building ahead of Flushing Meadows as she aims for a deep run at this week’s Cincinnati Open.

Croft added: “You look at her and think, ‘what a talent, you’ve got everything’. Moves beautifully, she’s got choices, has variety, creativity. I think she’s a beautiful tennis player and it’s all about getting the matches and the momentum going and building up the bank as I call it and this year she’s definitely built up a bigger bank of matches, and match wins, and that counts for something. I think she’s playing really well.”

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