Emma Raducanu has gone on record stating that, the reason she has had to hire multiple coaches in her career was because of their inability to be on track with the questions she asked. The Brit was of the view that she posed frequent challenges and questions to her coaches as she was someone who understood the reasoning before executing instructions.
Raducanu, who has missed most of the 2023 season due to injuries to her wrist and ankle, said that her coaches have found it rather difficult to keep up with her demanding style. Terming, “…It’s something I’ve always done…” and saying “…I keep provoking and asking questions to coaches and challenging their thinking as well…”, she always felt that she had to understand something before doing.
Emma Raducanu says coaching relationships didn’t work out because she asks a lot of questions & challenges their thinking:
“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 & maybe that’s why it ended. It’s… pic.twitter.com/vKImS4IAzG
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) October 20, 2023
Fans were skeptical that things did not work out for Emma with coaches as she is lazy. Calling, “…The work attitude from Emma is shocking. No wonder no coach held it with her for longer than 6 months…”, they viewed it as “immaturity and arrogance”. Some chose to put it “She was always the problem, not the coaches…” and that she would not live up to the hype.
Emma hasn’t yet named a replacement after she parted ways with Sebastian Sachs in June, thus dismissing her fifth coach in as many years. Others who have coached her in the past include Dimitry Tursunov, Torben Beltz, Andrew Richardson, and Nigel Sears. Her title-winning run at the US Open in 2021 as a qualifier, was with the expertise of Andrew Richardson.
Emma Raducanu shifts her priority from Grand Slams to the Olympics
The British tennis sensation has hinted that she has a desire to represent her country in the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics. Emma feels, “The Olympics is such a big thing in sport…” and is extremely excited at the thought of taking part in the event. However, she chose not to give a date for her return saying, “I think I could play another four if I wanted to, so this one isn’t the immediate rush or pressure…”
Raducanu, the only qualifier to have won a Grand Slam, was of the view that, though she loves the Grand Slams and wants to win more of them, she cherishes the dream of an Olympic experience. She understands that it is too far-fetched for now, saying “…I’ll just see how it goes if I even qualify, and how it goes from there.”
The 2021 US Open Champion who didn’t drop a set en route to her title-clinching run at New York, has had a rather rocky ride at Grand Slams since then. She has failed to make it past the second round of any of the Grand Slams after that run, which was instrumental in seeing her surge to a career-high ranking of 10th in the world.
Though she has yet to confirm her official return to competitive tennis, she has signed up to take part in the MGM Macau Tennis Masters exhibition event. With Raducanu weighing in on her participation at the Summer Olympics, it would be interesting to see whether she can recreate her success at Flushing Meadows or will it just turn out to be a mere flash in the pan.