Emma Raducanu won’t be ‘in any rush’ to find new full-time coach
Emma Raducanu is unlikely to appoint a new head coach any time soon with Laura Robson saying her “options are pretty limited” for mentors “who can travel full-time”.
The 2021 US Open has been without a coach since the end of January as Nick Cavaday stepped down after the Australian Open in order to focus on his health.
After chopping and changing coaches multiple times since she made her breakthrough in 2021, Raducanu started working with Cavaday – one of her childhood mentors – at the backend of the 2023 season.
The current world No 61 had worked with Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs in the past four years, but she appeared to have found a good set-up with Cavaday as she show signs of improvement.
Cavaday, though, had been troubled by health problems on several occasions and the travelling also took its toll.
Following the announcement Cavaday stated: “It’s important for me to spend some more time at home and prioritise getting back to full health, which is hard to do with the extensive calendar. I am glad Emma is back to being established on tour now with a ranking inside the top 60, and I look forward to seeing what she does from here.”
Raducanu’s first tournament after the season-opening Grand Slam was the Singapore Tennis Open and she travelled to that event with only her mother and fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamuru.
Another of her childhood coaches, Jane O’Donoghue, joined her for the Middle East swing, but Raducanu is yet to confirm her long-term plans in terms of coaching.
She has made it clear in the past the person has to be the “right fit”.
Former British No 1 Robson says Raducanu won’t change her principle despite initially struggling without a head coach.
“Emma Raducanu has been out in the Middle East trying to build on the form we saw from her in Australia. She is competing really well and making sure she’s trying to do the right things on the court,” she wrote in her latest Sky Sports Tennis column.
“I don’t think she’s in any rush, really, to employ someone new, just for the sake of it. It has to make sense for her and it has to be the right person.
“There’s not too many amazing coaches around who can travel full-time, so options are pretty limited. You wouldn’t want to go into a new partnership without 100 per cent confidence.”
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Raducanu lost four matches in a row as after her third-round exit from the Australian Open, she lost openers in Singapore, the Abu Dhabi Open and Qatar Open before beating Maria Sakkari in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
But she suffered her fourth defeat in five matches when she went down against Karolina Muchova in the next match.
Raducanu is next set to be in action at the Sunshine Double with her ranking good enough for direct entries into both the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open, but as things stand she is likely to remain without a head coach at the two WTA 1000 events.
