Emma Raducanu is currently without a coach after splitting with Francisco Roig following the Australian Open. Depending on which former mentors you include as an official coach, that’s now nine she’s parted ways with since making her WTA Tour debut in Nottingham almost five years ago. Raducanu’s coaching situation has been a hot topic for years, with many questioning her decision to chop-and-change so frequently – especially much earlier in her career.
But retired former British No. 1 Greg Rusedski believes this period without a coach could well be one of the best things for Raducanu, who is ranked up at No. 25 in the world after a recent run to the Cluj final. Rusedski pointed to retired icon Roger Federer, who also went through a period without a coach in 2004, and still won three Grand Slam titles.
Rusedski claimed that going it alone was “the best thing” for the 20-time Major champion – and Raducanu could learn from Federer during this period. “I remember Roger Federer going through a period by himself without a coach, and it was possibly the best thing for him. He figured out certain things for himself and took ownership of it,” the former world No. 4 said on his Off Court with Greg podcast.
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« We saw her in Romania get to the finals. Yes, she did not perform as well as she would like in the finals. So she has got to figure out herself and figure out the relationship where she sees eye-to-eye with the coach with how she wants to play out there.”
Rusedski is still hopeful that Raducanu can ultimately find a coach who aligns with her, but is eager to see the 2021 US Open champion figure things out on her own for the foreseeable future. He added: “That is where she has got to have the right mindset with the coach in terms of how she has to play, what her techniques need to be on the court and have that clarity.
“So, a little bit of time away without a coach right now, someone who is just hitting her, might be a real positive until she finds someone who she is on the same page with week in and week out, because she has not found that person yet. Hopefully she does.”
Raducanu is currently travelling with hitting partner Alexis Canter and her physiotherapist, Emma Stewart, who also takes care of strength and conditioning. But the 23-year-old has been left without a full-time coach following her amicable split from Roig.
The decision to part ways with the Spanish coach didn’t come as a huge surprise following some of Raducanu’s comments at the Aussie Open. After losing in the second round, the world No. 25 admitted she wasn’t happy with the direction her game had been going in.
“I think I want to be playing a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I’m playing right now and how I want to be playing is something that I just want to work on,” she explained. “I think there are definitely pockets of me playing how I want to play, and it comes out in flashes, which is a positive, and maybe more than certain times in my career in the last few years. But it’s not how I want to be, like, consistently every day.”
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