Emma Raducanu makes claim which helps explain her high turnover of coaches
Emma Raducanu has suggested that she has changed coaches frequently so far in her career because “they haven’t been able to keep up with the questions I’ve asked.”
The 2021 US Open champion revealed she provokes and asks her coaches a lot of questions to “challenge their thinking” as she needs to understand the reason for instructions.
The current world No 280 parted ways with her fifth coach in two years after splitting with Sebastian Sachs in June and is yet to appoint a new coach.
Raducanu previously worked with Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz and Dimitry Tursunov. Richardson coached Raducanu to her stunning victory at Flushing Meadows in 2021, where she won the title without dropping a set as a qualifier.
The 20-year-old has missed most of the 2023 season due to injury and underwent surgery on both her wrists and her ankle in May. She has played just 10 matches across five tournaments so far this year and has a 5-5 record.
The Brit suffered an ankle injury which forced her to retire during her second round match in Auckland in January in her first event of the year. She then lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Coco Gauff, before next competing in Indian Wells almost two months later.
There, Raducanu achieved her best result of the season by winning three matches to reach the last 16, where she was beaten by Iga Swiatek. The 20-year-old then lost in the opening round in Miami to Bianca Andreescu, before being beaten by Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart in April in her most recent match.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Raducanu claimed some of her coaches have been unable to deal with her challenging approach.
“I ask my coaches a lot of questions. On certain occasions, they haven’t been able to keep up with the questions I’ve asked and maybe that’s why it ended,” admitted the former world No 10.
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“It’s something I’ve always done. I keep provoking and asking questions to coaches and challenging their thinking as well. I’m not someone that you can just tell me what do and I’ll do it, I need to understand why and then I’ll do it.”
Raducanu also spoke about her goal of representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games, but recognised she should have plenty of opportunities to fulfil this ambition.
“Obviously, the Olympics is such a big thing in sport. I think I could play another four if I really wanted to, so this one [in Paris in 2024] isn’t the immediate rush or pressure, it’s just about getting back on court,” said the Brit.
“I love the Slams but I do want to have the Olympic experience. I’ll just see how it goes, if I even qualify and how it goes from there.”
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It has been announced that Raducanu is planning to make her comeback at the Macau Tennis Masters exhibition event in the opening week of December.
The tournament is hosted by IMG, who manage Raducanu’s commercial contracts, with Belinda Bencic, Taylor Fritz, and Frances Tiafoe among other star names confirmed to be on the entry list.
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