"There was no aura of diva or superstar about her" - Dmitry Tursunov on Emma Raducanu

Dmitry Tursunov recently claimed that Emma Raducanu has no airs about herself or her achievements on tour and that the Brit is an incredibly grounded and hard-working individual.

Tursunov coached Raducanu for a brief trial period during the US Open summer this year (around two months). But the two did not extend their relationship after failing to agree on terms.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Tursunov elaborated on Raducanu's personality, highlighting how the 20-year-old did not let the pressure of being a defending champion at the US Open get the better of her.

"Honestly, I did not see or feel that there were lots of outside things going on. From the time that we started, Emma just really had her nose to the ground. She was very hard working and did not see her skip a lot of things. There was no aura of diva or superstar about her and I think she has been managing that part very well. I was super impressed with her and couldn’t be happier with the way she is as a professional athlete," Tursunov said.

Admitting that he is not an expert when it comes to knowing what it takes to defend a Grand Slam, Tursunov argued that people were unrealistic in their expectations of wanting Raducanu to defend her US Open title. He explained that he never doubted her abilities but rather her lack of consistency.

"I have never won a Slam so I don’t know what it’s like to defend a Grand Slam. So I think she has done quite well in that sense. Honestly, the expectations of her repeating it were extremely unrealistic and anyone who understands anything about tennis would agree to that. It's not because she doesn't have the abilities. She has the ability but the game needs to be just improved to have that consistency to play at the high level," Tursunov said.

The former World No. 20 revealed that Raducanu, too, was "very realistic" in terms of her shortcomings and what she needed to do in order to improve. The Russian insisted that the Brit has the desire and hunger needed to scale greater heights.

"I think she was also very realistic, she understood that she's got sort of a long way to improve and climb. And I think she was absolutely ready for it and hungry to improve. I can't get into her mind. I can't speak for her. But that's the impression that I was getting," the Russian said. "From my perspective, there's only positive things that I can say about her, like, just the way she handled it, how professional she is for her age. I wish I was like that when I played."

"It's exactly the same situation that I felt with Emma Raducanu" - Dmitry Tursunov on working with current pupil Belinda Bencic

Belinda Bencic at the 2022 Guadalajara Open

Dmitry Tursunov recently joined hands with Belinda Bencic, taking charge of the Swiss ahead of last month's Guadalajara Open. During his exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Tursunov revealed the factors that convinced him to take on the role of Bencic's coach.

"I think that she was ready to improve," Tursunov said. "That's what I get, kind of the vibe that I get. I think she was just very just direct and knew what she wanted. There was no hesitation, it was just, okay, I want to I want to improve, I'm ready. I feel like I need to.

"So the things that you she is saying, me as an ex-player, I recognize that the person is willing to make the changes. So just the things that she was saying, they resonated, then they made sense. And, I felt like, Okay, this is the player that wants to get better. And that's what I'm looking for is to help someone get better. So I felt like it was a good match," he added.

The Russian said that he senses the same vibe with Bencic as he did with Raducanu, albeit only in a positive sense. He revealed how Raducanu and Bencic share an immense love for tennis and possess a great desire to keep improving.

"It's exactly the same situation that I felt with Emma. She was also in exactly the same spot, she wanted to improve, she wanted to get better, that she loves tennis and she genuinely has a strong passion for it. And, and of course, it's a pleasure to work with a player like that," he explained.