What does Emma Raducanu really want on the tennis court?
That was the question asked by Sky Sports commentator Jonathan Overend in the aftermath of Raducanu’s exit from the Australian Open. This appears to have highlighted the “chaos” in the “shackled” England number one camp.
Although Raducanu was without a permanent coach, the former England no. 1 The period through last spring and summer of working with Mark Petchey offered real possibilities.
After Wimbledon, the former US Open champion turned to Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francisco Roig following his trial in July, but she appears to have taken a step back.
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Raducanu admitted he was looking for a different way to play after his shock second-round exit.
The world number 29 was a doubt for the Australian Open after foot problems throughout pre-season left her unable to keep up and she only returned to the court in late December.
She appeared to lack the sharpness of her performance against Maria Sakkari at the United Cup, and beat Camila Osorio in the opening round in Hobart before losing to world number 204 Taylah Preston.
In Melbourne, Raducanu said he was ready to reassess his game. After being knocked out in the second round by Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday..
“When evaluating Raducanu’s post-match comments and Australian Open comments, there is very often something to read between the lines. The one that struck me the most is ‘re-evaluation’,” Overend said.
“I think she’s spent a lot of time reassessing her career as a young person. On the one hand, it explains why she’s been through so many coaches and why she’s been criticized for that.
“It’s typical of Raducanu to keep wanting to reassess and find out what’s best for her, both on and off the tennis court. This challenge continues and to some extent it’s difficult, because it’s so difficult to find the right balance. But I think she’s slowly getting it in terms of the process of reassessment, not the Grand Slam results.
“What does she really want on the tennis court and in tournaments?”
Is Raducanu feeling shackled?
Francis Roig has been working with Raducanu since Wimbledon.
Overend questioned whether Raducanu’s start to the season was a symptom of a player overburdened by the new tuition and looking to break away.
“It sounds like there is confusion when reading between the lines, which is confusion that can often occur with coaches,” he added.
“This is not a criticism of Roig. He has done a lot of good things with Raducanu and that is clear. But the harsh reality of the player-coach relationship is that the player is the boss, the employer.
“Sometimes the coach needs it, sometimes the coach wants it, and other times the coach doesn’t need it or wants it, but they’re doing it anyway.
“Coaches are always able to offer strategic, tactical and technical advice because they are experienced and have achieved some degree of success. But what is success in tennis coaching? That is something that is not widely known.
“How would a player have fared without the input of a particular coach? Would he have done as well? Could he have been better?”
“It sounds to me like Raducanu feels shackled and needs to be freer and ultimately be his own boss.”
Coaching Carousel
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Martina Navratilova answers questions from Sky Sports viewers, including how Raducanu will perform with a new coach…
After going through several changes over the last four years, Raducanu’s coach has received a lot of attention during his career.
Her first professional coach, Nigel Sears, left after reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2021, and she decided not to extend her contract with Andrew Richardson, who helped the then-18-year-old to a memorable US Open title.
Torben Beltz had a short time as her coach from November 2021 to April 2022, before being replaced by Dimitri Tursunov. He warned of a “red flag” if Raducanu continues to hear too many voices.
Sebastian Sachs has only been Raducanu’s coach for the first half of 2023 before reuniting with Nick Cavaday, who mentored her as a junior last year.
However, Cavaday stepped down at the start of this season for health reasons in January, but returned to work with Raducanu alongside Petchey during the grass-court season.
Raducanu played his best tennis under Petchey, whose television commitments always prevented him from becoming a full-time coach before switching to Roig.
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Take a look back at Raducanu’s incredible victory at the 2021 US Open
“I’m not suggesting she should go it alone or fire Roig, but if you think about Raducanu’s best moments in recent years, they are when she is smiling and having fun in practice and on the game court, when she feels free and ambitious,” Overend said.
“You want her to feel that more often. If she feels limited by the variety added to her game by technical adjustments and experiments and that stops her from enjoying tennis, that’s bad.
“Her comment about enjoying hitting the ball hard and fast into the corner – how she won the US Open. I would love to do that. Enjoy it, Emma. If that’s the part of the game you like, do more of it.”
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