Tim Henman issues Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper update ahead of United Cup campaign.

Tim Henman has issued updates on Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper’s pre-season preparations ahead of the start of their 2026 campaigns at the United Cup.

Current British No 1’s Raducanu and Draper are currently in the middle of their pre-season training and will begin their 2026 seasons representing Great Britain in the mixed team competition.

A solid year for Raducanu saw the Brit finish the season ranked 29th in the world, her highest year-end ranking since 2021, and form a strong partnership with acclaimed coach Francisco Roig.

The 23-year-old and Roig have been working together in Barcelona in recent weeks ahead of the new season, after the world No 29 called an end to her 2025 campaign in October.

A breakthrough 2025 saw Draper win the first Masters 1000 title of his career in Indian Wells and then reach the Madrid Open final, climbing to a career-high of fourth in the ATP Rankings.

However, injury disrupted the Brit’s second half of the season, with Draper falling in the second round of Wimbledon and then playing just once more — reaching round two of the US Open before his withdrawal.

Former British No 1 Henman is Great Britain’s team captain at the United Cup, and has been following the progress of both players closely in recent weeks.

Speaking to the United Cup website, the former world No 4 issued a positive update on both Raducanu and Draper’s training.

He said: “[They are] moving in the right direction.

“Obviously, Jack had a very difficult time … he’s building it up. He’s got Jamie Delgado now in his corner. So, a lot of experience there.

“He’s just got to keep working day in, day out to build it up so that he’s ready to be on the match court.

“Likewise with Emma, she’s been in Spain a bit with Francisco Roig, and she’s again looking to make sure she puts in the necessary work so that she can be ready to hit the ground running in Perth because we’re all aware of the matches we’ve got.”

Great Britain has been handed two interesting group-stage encounters in Perth, with an opening tie against Japan on January 4, before facing Greece the following day.

The clash versus Japan promises to pit Raducanu against former world No 1 and four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka, in one of the biggest potential matches across the whole round-robin phase.

Meanwhile, the tie in Greece looks set to pit Raducanu against former top-10 star Maria Sakkari, while Draper will likely take on two-time Grand Slam runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas.

We play Japan first, and I think all eyes are on Raducanu and Osaka. They’re both US Open champions. They both love hard courts,” added Henman.

“They’ve played against each other before, and I think it just emphasises what a great event it is because you’ve got top players going against each other in the very first match.

“The following evening, when we play against Greece with Tsitsipas and Sakkari, two players who have been in the top five in the world, we’ve got to be ready. We’ve got to be on our game, and I think that’s exciting.”