MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAú

March 24, 2025

Emma Raducanu

Press Conference

E. RADUCANU/A. Anisimova

6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Emma, congratulations. First time into the Miami Open quarterfinals. Just give us your thoughts on your performance today.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I was very happy to have come through that match against Amanda. She's in really good form and won so many matches this year and won a Masters in a top 20.

So, yeah, I'm really proud of how I kind of from the first point was there for every ball, working really hard for the points and, yeah, to have come through that. And, again, it's not easy playing someone that you're pretty good friends with, but happy with how I kind of put that to one side on the court today.

Q. It looks as if something has just clicked in these last few days. You look more confident. You look as if you can handle anything. Do you have an idea like that?

EMMA RADUCANU: I feel comfortable. I feel like in my environment, in my surroundings with the people I'm with, I feel pretty relaxed, and I can be myself and expressive and true to myself. That's important for me.

Yeah, I'm really happy with how things are on and off the court right now and just also happy that I was able to kind of transfer on to the match court.

Q. Emma, how would you compare the way you're playing at this tournament? Would it be as good or the same as Australia or Seoul or Washington last year where you also reached quarterfinals? How would you rate it?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think I'm playing better than in Australia this year. I think it's very difficult. Circumstances change all the time, but for me the biggest thing I'm proud of is just finding, I guess, the competitive spirit and being there for every ball and drawing that out of myself. I think that's kind of been missing in the last few months and even few years at times.

I think that's the biggest win for me is just feeling a lot of hunger, feeling on the court competitive, wanting to run down every ball, and that's the biggest win I would say from this week.

Q. How much of that is being healthy and knowing that you're solid?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think physically I'm pretty confident right now. In the conditions today it was quite hot and humid, and I knew that I could make it physical. I knew that I backed myself in that regard, and it didn't necessarily, I guess, today bother me.

It was difficult, I guess, because of the schedule. It was not much time, but for Amanda even more so because they finished a bit later. But I'm very grateful to be healthy because you don't realize until you're sidelined how important and how much it means.

Q. Four straight wins, two top 20s for the second time in your career. How good does it feel given what you've gone through?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, it means so much more. I think having been through a lot of challenges, a lot of difficulties, yeah, to have kind of played the way I have this week and felt the way I have on the court is the biggest win.

As I said earlier, just feeling competitive, feeling just happy, relaxed on and off the court has been, I guess, the biggest thing that I can take away and be happy about.

Q. Just picking up a couple of things that you said yesterday about being a free spirit and not wanting to be told what to do. Then, also, you made comments about the trust between you and Mark and Jane here and the synergy in the team. How much of that is relevant to your decision not to continue working with Vladimir? Did you feel that there wasn't a synergy there?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think the work that we did before the tournament, I mean, it wasn't long. It was only maybe two weeks, ten days, but we did some really good work. I think I'm getting some benefits on the match court right now are from what we did.

He is a great coach. He's so experienced. He's worked with so many players and brought them up to the top and developed players. So, yeah, I respect him a lot as a coach.

I think for me it just, I guess, wasn't right at the time, and I'm not sure going forward, but I think this week was a great eye-opener to just when I'm happy and expressive and myself. I think just having people that I've known for a very long time, since before the US Open and just those familiar faces, I think is the most valuable thing for this week at least.

Yeah, I guess, it's difficult because I just met him, and it's difficult to kind of build many years of connection straight away.

Q. Just one more about Petch. What specifically are your team bringing this week, do you think? Is it what you're doing on court, or is it more about focusing mentally?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think just a relaxed environment, but focused when needs to be. There's more switching on and off rather than be on the entire time. I'm someone who works really hard and can be really intense, but sometimes too intense. I guess in that way it's harder to be extremely focused when you need to be on the match court because you're focused from the first minute to the last.

So I think just being able to switch off and have fun with them and play Spikeball before the match, and we just create certain routines. Yeah, they bring small doses of happiness that I guess just keep you going, the small things.

Q. The happiness and the relaxation, was that something that was coming before you started winning matches? I mean, I know they sort of go hand in hand, of course, because winning is fun, but I'm sort of curious, when did it sort of come? When the plane touched down in Florida, or can you just walk us back through the start of this?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think honestly when I had probably people that I've known for a long time. I mean, I haven't had the best start to the season. I wasn't feeling great after Indian Wells, but to come to Miami and then after I stopped with Vlado, to just have familiar faces, people that I knew, people that have really gone through the trenches with me, but also can kind of lift me up at the same time, that I think made a big difference.

Just having them around, people that I really trust, yeah, I think that's probably when I started feeling a bit better off the court. That translated on the court. I was freer.

Q. Are you walking onto the court feeling like you're going to win now? I mean, you're feeling so much more confident than you had been earlier in the year. Can you compare it?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think so. I think I'm walking on to the court knowing that I'm going to be there for every point, every ball. So far that's really worked. I'm really happy about that, to be honest.

Also, I think on the match court now I'm just thinking less, which is probably a good thing, and trying to just let my creativity come out because I think that's when, as I said, I'm playing my best tennis. I'm not thinking. I'm just fighting for every ball and then letting my instincts take over.

Q. Sort of along those lines, you've mentioned how this week you're trying to not be 100% fully locked in. I'm curious, how are you maintaining that mentality as you progress in the tournament? How different does it look this week versus how you would normally prepare for a tournament?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think before even the first half of the first section of this year I would be so locked in. Every warmup would be an hour long. It would just be not much talking, just so focused. A lot of long tennis sessions, long gym sessions and just long days all the time.

Then I think kind of by the time I played the match, I was quite tired. I think that's something that we adjusted this week bringing more fun elements into it, shortening certain things in warmups, and just adding things that are outside the box, I guess.

I guess to warm up, for example, like not just running up and down in a straight line, which can be a bit more tedious and just playing a game and playing three different sports before we warm up, getting a good sweat on, laughing. Then you go onto the court feeling a lot more relaxed, and every part of you is just looser.

Yeah, I think it's worked so far this week. It's definitely a note to take home for me.