Emma Raducanu told what she needs to do to adjust to clay with French Open approaching

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Emma Raducanu has been told what she must learn to do as she continues her first clay-court season, with the French Open now less than a month away. The world No 11 had never played a professional match on the surface until two weeks ago, and is making her Madrid debut this week.

Raducanu is still trying to find her feet on the clay after making her debut on the surface at Billie Jean King Cup two weeks ago. She will be encouraged by achieving her best result of the season so far – a quarter-final – on the dirt in Stuttgart last week, but has been told what else she needs to work at to continue upping her level on the new surface.

“The average rally length on a clay court is not dissimilar to the hard courts and you could almost make a case when it’s hot, actually the clay court plays a little quicker than even some of the hard courts, even indoors,” former pro-turned-pundit Barry Cowan told Sky Sports. “But you’ve got indoors on a hard court or sometimes outdoors on a hard court, the ball is not as responsive. So Emma, like a lot of women, does play very flat.”

Noting the tactics the US Open would need to hone on a clay court, Cowan looked towards her conqueror last week, world No 1 Iga Swiatek. “But someone like Swiatek does hit a little bit of spin,” he continued. “And then you’ve got twisting and turning, you’ve got the ability to be able to defend intelligently, to be able to use those shots at the right time and that’s only going to come by playing a lot more matches on this surface.”

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The retired British pro also admitted that Raducanu may need to come through adversity in matches and find herself on the back-foot before turning a clay clash around. “You know, the very best players are equally as good as attack as they are in defence and Raducanu is not someone who can rely on a Serena Williams-type first serve so she’s going to have to be able to work her way through matches and at times she might be closer to the back fence than she might be on the baseline,” he said.

“But it’s about trying to put the ball in the right area of the court, then to be able to step up and be controlling of your own destiny. This is just all a learning experience, all these matches, all these weeks, I almost feel for any player. It’s almost money in the bank.”

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Raducanu already has a boost in her opening match in Madrid as she has been drawn to play Tereza Martincova, who she recently beat 7-5 7-5 in her debut clay match at BJK Cup. The 19-year-old has also arrived at the tournament fresh off the back of a split with her coach of five months, Torben Beltz.

“I want to thank Torben for his coaching, professionalism and dedication over the last half a year. He has a huge heart and I have enjoyed our strong chemistry during the time together. I feel the best direction for my development is to transition to a new training model with the LTA supporting in the interim,” she said in a statement on Tuesday. Raducanu has been joined by the LTA’s Iain Bates in Madrid.

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