[dontfollowtennis]

This is a good piece and shows why it’s so important to have a good team around you to keep improving and be a better player

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6479614/2025/07/08/tennis-amanda-anisimova-team-injuries-history

“This year, she won the Qatar Open in February to gain her first WTA 1,000 title, but soon the soreness returned and she lost her opening matches at Abu Dhabi Tennis Championships and in Indian Wells, Calif. Then Anisimova had to retire from her semifinal in Charleston at the end of March.

That’s when Soleymani came on board.

Trained as a chiropractor, with a focus on biomechanics, she got Anisimova on a table and evaluated her problem areas, examining the tissues and moving her this way and that to asses her flexibility, which is everything these days in tennis. Players are rarely able to just stand and hit. The game is about who can get in and out of the corners and the most awkward hitting positions.

She found a lot of problems down Anisimova’s left side — the one that takes the impact of right-handed players landing from their serve and stretching for open-stance backhands. There was weakness and scar tissue that caused pain. She hadn’t ever worked with someone like Soleymani, and most of the fitness work she was doing was just putting muscle on top of the damaged tissue, covering up problems rather than fixing them.

Through a combination of massage treatments and targeted flexibility and strength work, Anisimova began to rid her body of that scar tissue. The key, though, according to the people around the player, is that Soleymani essentially serves as a kind of chief of staff on her team and as the chief operating officer of Anisimova’s body, which is the most important instrument for any tennis player, far more important than the racket.

After she evaluates Anisimova at the start of each day, she will work with her fitness coach, Rob Brandsma, and her tennis coach, Hendrik Vleeshouwers, to design the day’s work. She will know if Anisimova is going through her menstrual cycle and advise the rest of the team to adjust the training accordingly. There is often a major emphasis on strengthening and increasing the flexibility of those muscles up and down her left side and in her core.”

 

[Henman Hill]

I wonder where it is that I said that Emma would be able to solve her physical issues and that I had the solution? You seem to be getting me mixed up with somebody else. You keep answering my posts as if I had written something different from what I did.

I don't know whether Emma can eradicate her physical issues. She has tried and says that for now she is trying to manage it. But if she can't keep it under control so she can play tennis as she needs to in order to be a top player then her hopes of being a top player are in doubt I would think.

I'd say it is starting to become apparent, including to her, that her peak is probably 30-40 in the world, maybe 20-30.

Which is very very good, but probably disappointing when you've had good reason to think you're going to be top 5.

 

[zenga10]

This is a good piece and shows why it’s so important to have a good team around you to keep improving and be a better player

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6479614/2025/07/08/tennis-amanda-anisimova-team-injuries-history

“This year, she won the Qatar Open in February to gain her first WTA 1,000 title, but soon the soreness returned and she lost her opening matches at Abu Dhabi Tennis Championships and in Indian Wells, Calif. Then Anisimova had to retire from her semifinal in Charleston at the end of March.

That’s when Soleymani came on board.

Trained as a chiropractor, with a focus on biomechanics, she got Anisimova on a table and evaluated her problem areas, examining the tissues and moving her this way and that to asses her flexibility, which is everything these days in tennis. Players are rarely able to just stand and hit. The game is about who can get in and out of the corners and the most awkward hitting positions.

She found a lot of problems down Anisimova’s left side — the one that takes the impact of right-handed players landing from their serve and stretching for open-stance backhands. There was weakness and scar tissue that caused pain. She hadn’t ever worked with someone like Soleymani, and most of the fitness work she was doing was just putting muscle on top of the damaged tissue, covering up problems rather than fixing them.

Through a combination of massage treatments and targeted flexibility and strength work, Anisimova began to rid her body of that scar tissue. The key, though, according to the people around the player, is that Soleymani essentially serves as a kind of chief of staff on her team and as the chief operating officer of Anisimova’s body, which is the most important instrument for any tennis player, far more important than the racket.

After she evaluates Anisimova at the start of each day, she will work with her fitness coach, Rob Brandsma, and her tennis coach, Hendrik Vleeshouwers, to design the day’s work. She will know if Anisimova is going through her menstrual cycle and advise the rest of the team to adjust the training accordingly. There is often a major emphasis on strengthening and increasing the flexibility of those muscles up and down her left side and in her core.”

That's very interesting, thanks for posting. I think you should also post it on the 'Emma's Tennis (not match)' thread.

 

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Bit of a rant here...

I always understood the coaching conundrum – takes a while to find the right match. Seems to me the UK is not chockablock with elite coaches willing to travel and be about that life. And Emma as @tennismomfan pithily noted, she’s the product of two nerds – neither parent a tennis player / coach / pro athlete. Nor was she trapped in one of these tennis prodigy bot farms. So Emma (luckily) had a well-rounded upbringing. But this reasonably normal upbringing has its downside for a player who wins a GS at 18 – namely she/they needed guidance early on about everything (rigours of pro tour, fame, business) and either received very little and/or bad advice. And yes, I blame much on her grubby IMG agents.

BUT she’s been through it and with 2+ years of injury woes, she ought to know what she needs. Plus 8 months of being sidelined gave her time to do research and still have a life. [OT: Yet she appeared to waste months galavanting with a spoilt bf, who seemed to publicly support the most vile of humanity. Like girl, you are Emma Raducanu, was there no one else? Also hearing about what she’s read, I do wonder whether she has some very odious influences in her life.]

Anyway, I’m sure celebrity horse guy is good at what he does but he was never a long term solution. I just hope she has been deliberating; and perhaps wanted to settle the coaching situation before adding a FT SC person or physio or whatever they decide she needs. It’s not ordering pizza, but it’s also not Navier-Stokes and this isn’t 2022.

 

[zenga10]

I watched the match live through 5-3 2nd set, and now just watched the rest of the 2nd set and the 3rd set. Some comments:

-I feel better about where Emma is at after watching that. Emma in much better form than R1 and kept her fighting spirit up the entire time until around 4-1 or so in 3rd when Babs was playing too good and it seemed all was lost.

-Babs play improved later in the 2nd set and through the 3rd. That was the difference. Emma was consistent throughout but not aggressive enough, so did well when Babs was making errors, but not when Babs was playing better as Babs was the more aggressive.

-Babs will draw Emma wide and then go down the line. Triangles. Happened a lot. Emma in comparison was not playing the lines enough, not putting Babs under pressure.

-Emma didn't change direction on her BH much. When drawn wide on her BH she more often hits it back down the middle where Babs says thank you very much and hits a FH winner DTL.

-Emma should practice passing and lobbing players when they come to the net. I think Babs won each time she came to the net. She plays a lot of doubles so has a better all-court game atm.

-Emma defense is getting better all the time but why is she not on offense more? She is capable of being more on offense.

-Babs builds points like Emma used to. At times in this match it's unclear what Emma's intent was.

-Emma served very well.

-The back issue appears to have been not as much of an issue as I thought it was. I did not see her grimace in pain once like she had in R1. So that's positive. In fact it was Barbora who apparently has a back issue that she has been dealing with.

-Barbora had 48 winners/64 UEs to Emma 10/37. That says a lot about who was the more aggressive.

-Emma had three match points but wasn't aggressive enough; Babs served an ace on her one match point. Admittedly, there was no pressure on Babs at that point since Emma had quit.

-Mr Vamos seemed quiet, though it's not always easy to tell from TV, but he seemed to be sitting there thinking and not cheering her on. From Mr Vamos to Mr Quiet, lol.

I think Emma will be able to move on from this and fix some things before Beijing. She will take comfort from the fact that she was there, could have won, something to learn from. And she is not injured, should be able to continue to practice and prepare for Beijing

 

[RossG01_]

I watched the match live through 5-3 2nd set, and now just watched the rest of the 2nd set and the 3rd set. Some comments:

-I feel better about where Emma is at after watching that. Emma in much better form than R1 and kept her fighting spirit up the entire time until around 4-1 or so in 3rd when Babs was playing too good and it seemed all was lost.

-Babs play improved later in the 2nd set and through the 3rd. That was the difference. Emma was consistent throughout but not aggressive enough, so did well when Babs was making errors, but not when Babs was playing better as Babs was the more aggressive.

-Babs will draw Emma wide and then go down the line. Triangles. Happened a lot. Emma in comparison was not playing the lines enough, not putting Babs under pressure.

-Emma didn't change direction on her BH much. When drawn wide on her BH she more often hits it back down the middle where Babs says thank you very much and hits a FH winner DTL.

-Emma should practice passing and lobbing players when they come to the net. I think Babs won each time she came to the net. She plays a lot of doubles so has a better all-court game atm.

-Emma defense is getting better all the time but why is she not on offense more? She is capable of being more on offense.

-Babs builds points like Emma used to. At times in this match it's unclear what Emma's intent was.

-Emma served very well.

-The back issue appears to have been not as much of an issue as I thought it was. I did not see her grimace in pain once like she had in R1. So that's positive. In fact it was Barbora who apparently has a back issue that she has been dealing with.

-Barbora had 48 winners/64 UEs to Emma 10/37. That says a lot about who was the more aggressive.

-Emma had three match points but wasn't aggressive enough; Babs served an ace on her one match point. Admittedly, there was no pressure on Babs at that point since Emma had quit.

-Mr Vamos seemed quiet, though it's not always easy to tell from TV, but he seemed to be sitting there thinking and not cheering her on. From Mr Vamos to Mr Quiet, lol.

I think Emma will be able to move on from this and fix some things before Beijing. She will take comfort from the fact that she was there, could have won, something to learn from. And she is not injured, should be able to continue to practice and prepare for Beijing

View attachment 398250

Give the partnership with Roig some time. He worked with Rafa for 18 years although he was second fiddle to Toni Nadal but this isn’t to be discounted. We can’t expect any coach to do magic in just a month's time. @MrSpoon brought in Cavaday but Cavaday is not an experienced tour coach which Roig is. If Roig is technical that’s what Emma needs at this point because she has to improve the quality of her shots which might include technical tweaks.

 

[LPJC]

I watched the match live through 5-3 2nd set, and now just watched the rest of the 2nd set and the 3rd set. Some comments:

-I feel better about where Emma is at after watching that. Emma in much better form than R1 and kept her fighting spirit up the entire time until around 4-1 or so in 3rd when Babs was playing too good and it seemed all was lost.

-Babs play improved later in the 2nd set and through the 3rd. That was the difference. Emma was consistent throughout but not aggressive enough, so did well when Babs was making errors, but not when Babs was playing better as Babs was the more aggressive.

-Babs will draw Emma wide and then go down the line. Triangles. Happened a lot. Emma in comparison was not playing the lines enough, not putting Babs under pressure.

-Emma didn't change direction on her BH much. When drawn wide on her BH she more often hits it back down the middle where Babs says thank you very much and hits a FH winner DTL.

-Emma should practice passing and lobbing players when they come to the net. I think Babs won each time she came to the net. She plays a lot of doubles so has a better all-court game atm.

-Emma defense is getting better all the time but why is she not on offense more? She is capable of being more on offense.

-Babs builds points like Emma used to. At times in this match it's unclear what Emma's intent was.

-Emma served very well.

-The back issue appears to have been not as much of an issue as I thought it was. I did not see her grimace in pain once like she had in R1. So that's positive. In fact it was Barbora who apparently has a back issue that she has been dealing with.

-Barbora had 48 winners/64 UEs to Emma 10/37. That says a lot about who was the more aggressive.

-Emma had three match points but wasn't aggressive enough; Babs served an ace on her one match point. Admittedly, there was no pressure on Babs at that point since Emma had quit.

-Mr Vamos seemed quiet, though it's not always easy to tell from TV, but he seemed to be sitting there thinking and not cheering her on. From Mr Vamos to Mr Quiet, lol.

I think Emma will be able to move on from this and fix some things before Beijing. She will take comfort from the fact that she was there, could have won, something to learn from. And she is not injured, should be able to continue to practice and prepare for Beijing

View attachment 398250

I heartily agree with virtually all of these points save the one about Babs at the net. I watched it all live on TV and was struck by (at least my perception - haven't seen an actual stat) the low percentage of net points won by Babs. In fact Emma made some great passing shots and Babs also made a lot of volleying errors for someone of such doubles stature.

There were a couple of occasions which begged for the shot selection of a lob by Emma but TBH I think the offensive lob is grossly underused by pretty much all the women. This is especially true given the number of women who shy away from an overhead smash in favour of a drive volley - of course this does not include Babs but it certainly includes Emma and Katie. I hasten to add that my own smash is pathetic and has featured air shots on way too many occasions!!

 

[RossG01_]

We ought to remember that Seoul was Emma's 3rd tournament with Roig. Are we expecting massive improvements in 3 tournaments for a player who is almost building their game from scratch? If any of you was expecting that fine because I wasn't. Emma will need a lot of time on the practice court and a lot of time playing matches to overcome whatever glitches she has in her game. She has been saying that she has putting a lot of hours on the practice court since Roig joined her team. If things are looking good on the practice now they will take some time to show up on the match court but with all that she is still winning matches against players around her ranking and below pretty much consistently. Barbora herself is a 2-time slam champion and has her moments of glory when things click in so no surprise Emma lost to her especially since Barbora played like her life depended on it on match points which is something she did against Townsend when she saved 8 match points. Many of you over here have hyperbolic reactions after a loss. Losses shouldn't be so doom and gloom especially in matches where Emma was mostly fighting but fell short eventually.

 

[edenstanwarr]

I'd say it is starting to become apparent, including to her, that her peak is probably 30-40 in the world, maybe 20-30.

Which is very very good, but probably disappointing when you've had good reason to think you're going to be top 5.

She is currently 27 in the live race in spite of having the worst 5 tournament stretch of her professional career from Singapore to Indian Wells when she didn't have a coach.

Her current level is around 20 in the world. She has had massive injury problems and a badly managed career. Good reason to believe she can be top 10 with a long injury free run and a stable team around her.

 

[edenstanwarr]

I watched the match live through 5-3 2nd set, and now just watched the rest of the 2nd set and the 3rd set. Some comments:

-I feel better about where Emma is at after watching that. Emma in much better form than R1 and kept her fighting spirit up the entire time until around 4-1 or so in 3rd when Babs was playing too good and it seemed all was lost.

-Babs play improved later in the 2nd set and through the 3rd. That was the difference. Emma was consistent throughout but not aggressive enough, so did well when Babs was making errors, but not when Babs was playing better as Babs was the more aggressive.

-Babs will draw Emma wide and then go down the line. Triangles. Happened a lot. Emma in comparison was not playing the lines enough, not putting Babs under pressure.

-Emma didn't change direction on her BH much. When drawn wide on her BH she more often hits it back down the middle where Babs says thank you very much and hits a FH winner DTL.

-Emma should practice passing and lobbing players when they come to the net. I think Babs won each time she came to the net. She plays a lot of doubles so has a better all-court game atm.

-Emma defense is getting better all the time but why is she not on offense more? She is capable of being more on offense.

-Babs builds points like Emma used to. At times in this match it's unclear what Emma's intent was.

-Emma served very well.

-The back issue appears to have been not as much of an issue as I thought it was. I did not see her grimace in pain once like she had in R1. So that's positive. In fact it was Barbora who apparently has a back issue that she has been dealing with.

-Barbora had 48 winners/64 UEs to Emma 10/37. That says a lot about who was the more aggressive.

-Emma had three match points but wasn't aggressive enough; Babs served an ace on her one match point. Admittedly, there was no pressure on Babs at that point since Emma had quit.

-Mr Vamos seemed quiet, though it's not always easy to tell from TV, but he seemed to be sitting there thinking and not cheering her on. From Mr Vamos to Mr Quiet, lol.

I think Emma will be able to move on from this and fix some things before Beijing. She will take comfort from the fact that she was there, could have won, something to learn from. And she is not injured, should be able to continue to practice and prepare for Beijing

View attachment 398250

I agree. She is bad at passing players at the net, which is part of a general problem of not being able to see the open court and successfully hit to it.

Against top players, she just doesn't control her direction of shot. She hits the safer shot and that limits her success.

 

[desmondpaul]

We ought to remember that Seoul was Emma's 3rd tournament with Roig. Are we expecting massive improvements in 3 tournaments for a player who is almost building their game from scratch? If any of you was expecting that fine because I wasn't. Emma will need a lot of time on the practice court and a lot of time playing matches to overcome whatever glitches she has in her game. She has been saying that she has putting a lot of hours on the practice court since Roig joined her team. If things are looking good on the practice now they will take some time to show up on the match court but with all that she is still winning matches against players around her ranking and below pretty much consistently. Barbora herself is a 2-time slam champion and has her moments of glory when things click in so no surprise Emma lost to her especially since Barbora played like her life depended on it on match points which is something she did against Townsend when she saved 8 match points. Many of you over here have hyperbolic reactions after a loss. Losses shouldn't be so doom and gloom especially in matches where Emma was mostly fighting but fell short eventually.

Like I said in the Korea thread it's probably a blessing she lost as its still raining in Seoul. Better get to China relax and take Taylor T out for a Chinese meal 😁🇨🇳

 

[Jollyrads]

She is currently 27 in the live race in spite of having the worst 5 tournament stretch of her professional career from Singapore to Indian Wells when she didn't have a coach.

Her current level is around 20 in the world. She has had massive injury problems and a badly managed career. Good reason to believe she can be top 10 with a long injury free run and a stable team around her.

Don’t come up in here with clear and concise arguments peppered with logic! Please! It’s throwing me off

 

[edenstanwarr]

I heartily agree with virtually all of these points save the one about Babs at the net. I watched it all live on TV and was struck by (at least my perception - haven't seen an actual stat) the low percentage of net points won by Babs. In fact Emma made some great passing shots and Babs also made a lot of volleying errors for someone of such doubles stature.

There were a couple of occasions which begged for the shot selection of a lob by Emma but TBH I think the offensive lob is grossly underused by pretty much all the women. This is especially true given the number of women who shy away from an overhead smash in favour of a drive volley - of course this does not include Babs but it certainly includes Emma and Katie. I hasten to add that my own smash is pathetic and has featured air shots on way too many occasions!!

She flubbed several volleys early in the match, but she also had some superb volleying later, where she perfectly anticipated where Emma was going to hit and volleyed with great touch.

 

[RossG01_]

I agree. She is bad at passing players at the net, which is part of a general problem of not being able to see the open court and successfully hit to it.

Against top players, she just doesn't control her direction of shot. She hits the safer shot and that limits her success.

I believe everything will come with time. She just needs to stick with one coach for minimally 1 or 2 years so we can judge better. At the end of the season she'll have had Roig with her for 6 or 7 tournaments which is probably a big enough sample to assess the partnership and how it is going. I believe she will continue with Roig but we won't know until 1 or 2 weeks from the start of 2026.

 

[zenga10]

I heartily agree with virtually all of these points save the one about Babs at the net. I watched it all live on TV and was struck by (at least my perception - haven't seen an actual stat) the low percentage of net points won by Babs. In fact Emma made some great passing shots and Babs also made a lot of volleying errors for someone of such doubles stature.

There were a couple of occasions which begged for the shot selection of a lob by Emma but TBH I think the offensive lob is grossly underused by pretty much all the women. This is especially true given the number of women who shy away from an overhead smash in favour of a drive volley - of course this does not include Babs but it certainly includes Emma and Katie. I hasten to add that my own smash is pathetic and has featured air shots on way too many occasions!!

Yeah, my comments were made after watching the 2nd half of the match, i had in mind times Babs came to the net later in the natch but yeah she did make errors there earlier in the match in particular. Also yes good point about men lobbing more, Novak and Carlos do quite a bit, though not everyone is that skilled, lol. In womens doubles though they lob a lot, at least good doubles players like Errani do. Maybe playing doubles would help develop some of these skills.

 

[BenS97]

I'm still surprised she hasn't got even a temp one for this final swing of the season. Petchey said in his interview this week that Emma should have a physio who can oversee strength and conditioning as well rather than a dedicated s&c coach travelling with her full time and no physio. Emma continues to baffle me in so many ways. I really thought her going to the BTT academy was going to be more significant for both her game and her team set up than it has turned out to be.

Petchey:

"I think she needs to decide whether she needs somebody on the road permanently or whether she just needs somebody back at base and then someone to travel with her. She's in the process of figuring that out. I don't know where that's at. That's a piece of the puzzle that needs a solution and I'm sure she'll get there."

The perfect scenario, according to Petchey, would involve Raducanu securing a physiotherapist capable of traveling and collaborating with Roig. "I think it needs to be a blend. I don't think she needs a strength and conditioning coach with her all the time," he continued.

"I think the ideal world would be to take a physio with her who also has the ability to implement a strength and conditioning programme on the road. That would be your perfect scenario, rather than having another person to look after and another person as part of the entourage.

"In a perfect world if she would have Francisco and then a blend of a physio and a strength and conditioning coach."

Petchey talking sense as per usual. I just hope Emma doesn’t have the same view as her father when it comes to how much staff cost, with not hiring a physio as a result. I find it disheartening seeing Boulter and Kartal having a physio with them throughout the US swing, whilst Emma only had a coach with her. That seems bound to continue throughout the Asian swing, with only Roig in the coaches box from what I saw in Korea on the tele.

 

[Henman Hill]

She is currently 27 in the live race in spite of having the worst 5 tournament stretch of her professional career from Singapore to Indian Wells when she didn't have a coach.

Her current level is around 20 in the world. She has had massive injury problems and a badly managed career. Good reason to believe she can be top 10 with a long injury free run and a stable team around her.

badly managed by? her dad? (just curious who you're referring to)
if so, is that going to change?

if she didn't have a coach and needed a coach then that's her look out. it's not an 'excuse'/'justification'.
totally fair on the injuries, but i just think this is about her ceiling. she's been pretty injury free this year, right?

 

[ad in]

Petchey talking sense as per usual. I just hope Emma doesn’t have the same view as her father when it comes to how much staff cost, with not hiring a physio as a result. I find it disheartening seeing Boulter and Kartal having a physio with them throughout the US swing, whilst Emma only had a coach with her. That seems bound to continue throughout the Asian swing, with only Roig in the coaches box from what I saw in Korea on the tele.

Curious, what are her father's views on staff costs (and source)?

I've never heard him interviewed or even mentioned really apart from Emma recalling that he introduced her to all sorts of activities as a kid.

 

[Racquetback]

Curious, what are her father's views on staff costs (and source)?

I've never heard him interviewed or even mentioned really apart from Emma recalling that he introduced her to all sorts of activities as a kid.

This would involve going back in the mists of time lol, but early on there was much reported about him keeping a tight hold on expenses.

 

[BenS97]

Curious, what are her father's views on staff costs (and source)?

I've never heard him interviewed or even mentioned really apart from Emma recalling that he introduced her to all sorts of activities as a kid.

I can’t remember who exactly reported it, but the gist of it was basically her dad thinking staff costs in tennis are prohibitively expensive. Emma’s responsible for her team now and to me it’s negligent to not travel with a physio full-time.