Emma Raducanu explains what Mark Petchey has changed to make her 'excited and optimistic'

says she feels brand new ahead of her return to the Italian Open with part-time coach Mark Petchey. Raducanu has not competed on Rome's clay courts since 2022, when she retired against Bianca Andreescu in the first round.

Plenty has happened in the three years since. And with Petchey pulling the strings after a sequence of failed coaching partnerships, Raducanu believes there are brighter days ahead.

"It is exciting," the Brit told . "It does feel like a bit of a fresh start with the way I am approaching everything, with the people I have around, with my mindset and outlook. I feel more optimistic, I feel pretty positive about things going forward. I'm just taking it day by day and trying to stay consistent."

Raducanu has shelved her hunt for a full-time coach to continue working with Petchey on an informal basis. He was in the former US Open champion's corner for her run to the Miami Open quarter-finals in March, and again for her first clay-court event of the season in Madrid last month.

Raducanu faces an unknown qualifier in Rome before a potential match-up with the dangerous Ekaterina Alexandrova in round two. And she is enjoying the change of pace that Petchey has brought to the practice courts.

The 22-year-old explained: "He's not a super technical coach. There are certain tweaks, as always, but that is something I am going away from. I have been very technical in the past. There has been a time and a place for that because I needed to make improvements.

"From now on, it's more about doing the right things, taking the ball on more, and just repetition of certain drills and patterns, which he is very good at setting up. It's a good challenge for my game.

"I want to work on doing things differently to try and bridge the gap between where I am now and where I want to be. I'm going to use the season to take pressure off, try to be more aggressive and play the way I want to."

Clay courts have not been kind to Raducanu over the course of her young career. She was knocked out in the second round of her only French Open appearance, and admitted earlier this year that she still finds moving on the surface 'really difficult'.

In her last clay outing, Raducanu made it past Suzan Lamens in straight sets before coming unstuck against Marta Kostyuk in the Madrid Open second round.