Emma Raducanu’s approach labelled ‘mind-blowing’ as she is warned about having ‘yes people’ around her
Strength and conditioning coach Kieron Vorster has described Emma Raducanu’s scheduling decisions as “mind-blowing” and “crazy.”
Vorster has been a physical trainer for several players, including Tim Henman, Wayne Ferreira, Dan Evans and Sorana Cirstea.
Raducanu started this year ranked 301st in the world after missing over half of the 2023 season due to the surgeries she underwent on both her wrists and her ankle.
The 21-year-old has played a fairly light schedule so far in 2024 and has amassed a 20-13 record (including two wins in the Billie Jean King Cup) from the 14 tournaments she has played.
Raducanu sits 54th in the WTA Rankings after reaching the quarter-finals at the Korea Open last month in her most recent event. The Brit suffered an ankle ligament injury in Seoul that forced her to withdraw from the ongoing China Open.
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Vorster feels Raducanu’s team could be to blame for her scheduling approach and he also expressed his disbelief that the former US Open winner skipped the French Open and the Olympics this summer.
“I think there could potentially be a lot of ‘yes’ people around her, instead of people telling her what she doesn’t want to hear, ‘You know what, Emma, you need to get out there and play’,” he told Mail Online.
“She’s a good player. That’s not the issue. But this abbreviated schedule is just mind-blowing.
“There’s too many people around her. She’s got a guy from IMG (the agency who represent her) travelling with her every single week. The tennis world’s gone crazy: gone are the days where you just have your coach and your physical trainer.
“It was an unbelievable achievement for her to win the US Open, but sometimes I think that could have been the thorn in her side, a poisoned chalice, because she went from hero to zero to hero and now she just doesn’t understand what it takes.
“She turned down playing the Olympics, playing the French Open. At 21, I just think it’s crazy — you should be jumping at the chance.
“As for not playing qualifiers, I’d say to her, ‘If you don’t get a wildcard and you’re not in the main draw, what does that matter? You’re that damn good that you’re going to qualify, and guess what? You’re going to have two to three matches under your belt playing someone in the first round that doesn’t know the conditions and has only been practising when you’ve been playing matches, so it’s a win-win.'”
