Emma Raducanu is looking for a new coach. This can’t be breaking news anymore, considering her history of firing coaches.
Emma Raducanu is looking for a new coach
When Radcanu won the US Open in 2021, you’d think she would stick with her then-current coach, Andrew Richardson. But no. Shortly after that, he was let go. Before Richardson, Nigel Sears was her coach from April 2021 to July 2021. That is 3-4 months. Richardson was there from July to September, that is, three months. Torben Beltz was her coach from November 2021 to April 2022, a whopping six months! And Dmitry Tursunov coached Raducanu from July to October 2022. And now Emma Raducanu is looking for a new coach. The question is, is she searching for something that doesn’t exist?
What you hear from the locker room is that Raducanu is not easy to work with. With her recent history, that seems to ring true. If you want to play devil’s advocate, she might just not have found what she’s looking for. Why not try a female coach? Maybe that dynamic is better for her?
She is not alone in looking for the perfect coach. Zverev had huge issues finding a solid partnership and many top coaches had to go in the process. He is also not known for being the easiest to work with, so it all makes sense. Why not stay without a coach for a while and try to figure out what is missing? Maybe it’s what you, the player, bring to the table, not the coach.
Who is Emma Raducanu’s next coach?
Keen to hear your ideas. I got a few via Instagram already. Most people seemed to suggest the fact that I’m pointing to above, that a little introspection is needed. Then you have to remember that she is young and that it might be a process of maturing. But if she wants to win titles and compete for slams, she needs to find a more consistent way in 2023.
Via Instagram I got these ideas so far: Andy Murray (but he is still playing, of course), Sasha Baijin (great idea), one guy suggested Jesus (good pick, but he is very busy I can imagine), and several people suggested themselves.
Put your suggestions in the comments below.
2 comments
Actually, any detail at all this time suggests that it was Tursunov that decided to leave. Taking up an offer from another WTA player, but probably frustrated with Raducanu – and all the physical issues (and limited ability or willingness to work through them).
And she may likely be difficult to work with, but the suggestion (with greater resolution) has been that her father is behind most of the coach dismissals, that he doesn’t really think most coaches have a lot to offer beyond their main strengths, which they communicate in the first month or two.
And supposedly Richardson was unwilling to travel full time on a tour schedule – and had his own kid’s tennis he wanted to stay in the UK to manage. But also didn’t have the confidence of the father.
Doesn’t actually change the very unusual picture of Raducanu changing coaches all the time. But this “locker room” doesn’t sound very informed at all.
Also more than a couple of coaches have left Zverev rather than the other way around.
And the “locker room” reputation of Sasha Baijin is dreadful and that he’s not really a coach at all: he was a hitting partner that Osaka didn’t manage to fire in time and inadvertently gave an unwarranted reputation as a coach.
Thanks for sharing. Stuff from the “locker room” is, as always, rumors or just talk that leaked out. Always to be taken with a pinch of salt.