- In the last two years since turning pro, British tennis star Emma Raducanu has had six coaches
- She stormed the headlines after winning the 2021 US Open in her first Grand Slam tournament
- However, she dropped her coach, Andrew Richardson
In the last two years since turning pro, British tennis star Emma Raducanu has had six coaches and she is not about to stop hiring and firing them, her agent Max Eisenbud says.
She stormed the headlines after winning the 2021 US Open in her first Grand Slam tournament while only 18 years. Raducanu beat Canadian tennis star Leylah Fernandes.
However, she dropped her coach, Andrew Richardson immediately after she won her first major tournament. Sadly, Raducanu hasn’t won any single WTA event ever since something tennis pundits blame on her indecisiveness in picking her coaches.
Torben Beltz, Sebastian Sachs, Nigel Sears and Dmitry Tursunov have had a short stint coaching Raducanu.
The Briton tennis star born in Canada, has come under fire for this strategy, but according to her agency, nothing will change in the near future.
British teen player Emma Raducanu. Photo by Tennis Majors
Eisenbud while speaking on Tennis Podcast said that at her age, it is normal having different coaches after a short while. He added that it is a reality that Raducanu and her parents are alive to.
“The coaching situation, right or wrong, and this is something that her dad and Emma pretty much control on all the coaching stuff, that has been their philosophy all the way up through the juniors,” Eisenbud stated.
“They never had coaches for a long time. You’ve probably heard of that. For them, that is calm waters, having a coach for five months and going on to someone else. That is not traditional and not the norm for most to win a Grand Slam and change your coach,” he added.
Eisenbud went on to say that this strategy was used in women’s basketball as a whole and highlighted how Raducanu benefited from severing her player-coach relationship with Sears before her 2021 win in New York.
When Raducanu is able to play again, she hasn’t decided who will be in charge of helping her behind the scenes, but her agency urged that to get over coaching changes.
Eisenbud believes that players frequently switch instructors, especially on the women’s circuit. But, people still find it difficult to comprehend how you can go to the fourth round of Wimbledon while ceasing to work with Nigel Sears who is a fantastic coach.
Emma Raducanu Korean Open. Photo by Eurosport
He recalls that when she stopped working with Nigel, everyone was on her neck but she proved them wrong by winning the US Open.
Raducanu in June opened up saying she regrets winning the US Open because it put a target on her back.
She says that ever since she took this victory, people always treat her like a piggy bank and with sharks unrelentingly ready to pounce on her.
The 20-year-old is currently out of the WTA Tour as she recovers from an ankle and two wrist surgeries she underwent in May.
Raducanu hasn’t won any other tournament since 2021, one of her biggest challenges being injury and tennis coaching dynamics.
She now says that winning the US Open opened a new dimension in her life which she doesn’t love one bit.
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