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Emma Raducanu has worked with several coaches in her young career already. This constant reshuffling has caught the eye of fellow British Grand Slam champion Ann Jones.
Raducanu shocked the world by winning the 2021 US Open as a 19-year-old. What was more impressive was the way the Brit earned her first Grand Slam title -- she was a qualifier who did not drop a set all tournament, while bettering the likes of Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari and Leylah Fernandez en route to the title.
However, two weeks after her victory in New York, Emma Raducanu surprisingly parted ways with coach Andrew Richardson. Moreover, the 21-year-old has worked with five different coaches - Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs - since then. She is currently without a proper team.
Ann Jones, a three-time Grand Slam champion, weighed in on Raducanu's frequent coaching changes during a recent interview with the Daily Mail. Jones criticized Raducanu for dismissing Richardson so soon after they worked a miracle in New York.
“We had to find our own answers. You have to work at things yourself. To fire a coach after she had just won the US Open was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Life is about momentum. If you’ve got the momentum, you have to take advantage of it and carry on,” Ann Jones said.
The 85-year-old believes that the role of a coach is to better a player's natural game and that it is essential for a player to stick to their style.
"You’ve got a natural game. What you need to do is to improve what you have got. You don’t have coaches come along and change your game. The results are clear. You get injured, because it’s not natural for you to hit the ball in that way. It was natural to hit it the way you hit it in the first place,” Jones added.
Emma Raducanu to return to tennis at 2024 ASB Classic
Emma Raducanu last played on the WTA Tour in April at the 2023 Stuttgart Open. In May, the former World No. 10 underwent surgeries on her wrists and ankle, which have kept her out of action ever since.
After the prolonged recovery period, Raducanu is all set to return to the tour, and her first stop will be the 2024 ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. She has received a wildcard to enter the main draw at the WTA 250 tournament, which will be played from January 1 to January 7. It is one of the lead-up tournaments to the 2024 Australian Open.
Emma Raducanu will be joined by Caroline Wozniacki, Elina Svitolina and defending champion Coco Gauff in Auckland. The 21-year-old had participated in the 2023 ASB Classic and defeated Linda Fruhvirtova in the first round before retiring mid-match during her second-round clash against Viktoria Kuzmova.
