AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 17, 2026

Emma Raducanu

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Emma, welcome back to Melbourne Park. Talk us through how you're feeling and how your preparations have been so far.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I just arrived in Melbourne, so it's pretty much my first day here. Not much time, but looking forward. Obviously it's a slam, first one of the year. Seeing everyone again, it's exciting. You get all the different emotions.

Yeah, I'm just happy to be here.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How tricky is it having a Sunday start having only arrived very recently? And how do you try and kind of get ready for that on super speed?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, it's very difficult. You would love to have more time in the environment, more time practicing, but I guess I was pretty much handed the schedule to try and turn it around and make the most out of what is in front of me.

I think it's easy to get down and complain about it, but it's not going to help. So I'm just trying to focus and turn it around for tomorrow.

Q. Sonay said earlier on she didn't go to Hobart because she thought the courts were going to be quite different to the way they were here. I think you had a hit this morning. Did you find the conditions quite different?

EMMA RADUCANU: No, I haven't hit this morning. I'm hitting at 9:00 p.m. tonight, because I'm told I'm second night match, so I need to try and adjust my day to that time. I'll give it a go later and see.

I mean, the conditions in Hobart were quite cold and windy, and there is a bit of wind here, but I think it's a bit warmer. However, the time I'm playing, it might not be that warm. So it could be good prep, good practice, but I mean, the conditions here can also change multiple times in a day, so it depends on the day.

Q. On that schedule for tomorrow, I don't know how many times you have been in that situation, but when you saw that, that you were second on after a men's match that on paper has the potential to go pretty long, what's the reaction? What are the implications of that in terms of how you get yourself ready and what that's like for an athlete to potentially be going on court that late?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think it's very difficult to be scheduling women's matches after a potential five-set match. To me, it doesn't really make as much sense, but I think after seeing it, you know, the initial reaction is probably, like, oh, it's a late one. Then you deal with it, and you try and shift your day and adjust.

Like today I'm going to practice and see what it's like. I don't think I have been in that situation. Only once before maybe when I played the semis of the US Open. I played second night match, but other than that, I haven't played that late.

So for me, it's a new experience, something that I need to learn to do. Hopefully if I'm playing this game for a long time, I'll probably be in this situation again, so it's a good learning step to try and adjust and deal with that day, as well.

Q. You're in a much different position than you were a year ago when you were here. How did that affect sort of your head coming into this season in terms of what sort of goals you have set for yourself this year versus where you were a year ago?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, last year I think I did a great job of turning my season around after Indian Wells. I think I started picking up some really good momentum.

For me, the end of 2025 was difficult, because I was hampered by a foot injury, so that's just taken some time to recover. I didn't get to really have a preseason. I started training very, very late on tennis-wise.

So because of that, I feel like I need to kind of take the pressure off of myself and not put too much pressure on and expect to be playing amazing tennis, because, you know, I'm, like, week 4 of return to play, so of practice, it's not much at all.

So I just want to keep putting in the right steps that I know are going to take me to where I want to go in the future. Whether that comes this week, whether it comes tomorrow, whether it comes in a couple weeks, I know it will inevitably.

Q. Have you had a chance to scout your opponent much? I think she's actually played quite well recently between an ITF and the Southeast Asian games, but there doesn't seem to be many videos of her.

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think it's a tricky one, because playing a lot of matches, even if it's an ITF level and getting a lot of wins, it does so much. I experienced that firsthand in 2021 when I went on a good run in a bunch of 100Ks. I had a lot of confidence. You feel very match-sharp.

I think it's a very dangerous opponent, a very dangerous situation to be in, so I think I'm ready for a tough one. Also, there is not as much data. There is not as much information about these players. You don't know that much about them, so there is that element of surprise, too.

I'm very aware of the first-round match. Yeah, just need to practice and do my best to be ready for tomorrow.

Q. It looks like your forehand swing is a bit bigger and higher. Is that fair to say?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think so, yeah. I kind of noticed that more recently myself.

Q. Is it something deliberate that you were trying to implement, or that's just how that's fallen?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I think it's something that probably happened in the last few weeks. It's not something that I really wanted to happen, so I need to kind of look at that and shorten it, because I feel like it's good in certain conditions when it's a little bit slower. But on these very quick courts it doesn't really work, so I need to adjust that.

Q. Is that a result of being off court, or I guess you have talked a lot about trying to hit with more spin and more pace. Is maybe that on offset of that?

EMMA RADUCANU: I think it's because I have been working on certain things with Francis, and on a particular shot, it works well, but we didn't really practice a different type of shot, which doesn't work so well. It's probably because we haven't done the latter. It's just drifted in that way. It's not something I want to continue.

Q. Given how disruptive your season was, how much time have you actually had to work on the technical side of things? I remember at the US Open you mentioned the serve as something you were going to pay particular attention to. What have you been working on specifically?

EMMA RADUCANU: Yeah, I pretty much started hitting, like, on the 20th of December, so it's not been much time at all.

I think for me, now again after not playing for two months at the end of last year, I think I need to work on the serve. I think I got to a really good spot last year with it. I was dominating a lot of points getting my forehand into play.

I think that's something I need to continue to do more of, and I have confidence that given a little bit of time I can kind of get that back on my serve, as well. I think it's such an important element of the game, of course.

But for sure serve and forehand are two big parts of the game that I want to keep doing and working on.