Emma Raducanu and Billy Harris, who led Team Great Britain, have faced elimination from the fourth edition of the United Cup, currently being held in Perth and Sydney from January 2 to 11 at the hands of Team Greece.
The WTA World No. 29 couldn’t surpass Maria Sakkari, losing her singles match, and has recently revealed why she was practising with a Yonex racket rather than her usual one.
Emma Raducanu Reflects on Why She Was Testing a New Racket
The British star has been playing with the Wilson Steam 100 BLX throughout her career and was recently seen practising with a new racket, the Yonex Ezone 100. Her being spotted with a new racket has raised speculation of whether the talent is looking to shift from her long-time sponsor, Wilson, to Yonex.
She made her debut at the 2026 United Cup and was set to face Naomi Osaka in her first match, but was replaced by Katie Swan due to her foot injury issues. In her match against Greece, she lost to Sakkari with a final score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, which marked Sakkari’s first career victory against Raducanu.
In men’s singles, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Harris, and in doubles, the British pair of Olivia Nicholls and Neal Skupski won, surpassing Despina Papamichail and Stefanos Sakellaridis.
During her post-game interview, Raducanu reflected on the reason for her practising with a different racket than what she usually plays with, mentioning, “I didn’t have much time to test, because I wasn’t playing for too long. I was just looking to see if there was anything I can gain or add and hoped that I could have that time to do it, and I did. I practiced those two weeks pretty much with that racquet. It’s great. I just felt like to play a match and to fully trust it, it was too soon.” (via ASAP Text)
She continued, “I just switched back to my racquet. I know with certain shots, you feel every gram, you feel every kind of millimeter of your own racquet, and you know it like your own hand. I think that’s why I went back to it. In a racquet, I probably was looking for a bit more power, a bit more help and miles per hour on the ball, especially when it gets so heavy like it can in the evenings and with the balls. I was just trying that out. This one didn’t work. Yeah, probably now I’ll just stick to this until I have another gap in the season.”
Raducanu isn’t the only WTA player to test a different racket; before her Australian Open run, Madison Keys shifted from the Blade 98 to the Yonex Ezone 98 and later claimed her career’s first Grand Slam and other notable feats.
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Apart from speculation about her racket, Raducanu is also sparking controversy with her sponsor change from Nike to Uniqlo, as a tennis insider has reflected that the 2021 US Open champion may have made the move.
She played with Nike for her first match in 2026, and if she does make a move, she would be joining Swiss legend Roger Federer, who had left Nike for Uniqlo for a 10-year and $300 million deal.