Emma Raducanu splits with fifth coach in two years

Ewan West 01 Jun 2023 12:52 PM

Emma Raducanu during a match

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu has split with her coach Sebastian Sachs after working with the German for less than six months.

The 20-year-old revealed that “circumstances made it unfeasible for both of us to continue right now” in a statement announcing the decision.

The Brit hired the former player, who previously coached Julia Goerges and Belinda Bencic, in mid-December. The German helped Bencic win a gold medal in singles at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.

Sachs is the fifth coach to have left her team in two years, following Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz and Dmitry Tursunov.

Richardson coached Raducanu to her stunning victory at the 2021 US Open, where she won the title as a qualifier without dropping a set. Raducanu parted ways with the Brit less than two weeks after the triumph.

Raducanu explained that she would no longer be working with Sachs in a post on Twitter.

I have really enjoyed Seb’s coaching and working with him, it’s unfortunate that circumstances made it unfeasible for both of us to continue right now and we have decided to part ways. I wish Seb all the best moving forwards. pic.twitter.com/wrewLWVDVS

— Emma Raducanu (@EmmaRaducanu) June 1, 2023

“I have really enjoyed Seb’s coaching and working with him, it’s unfortunate that circumstances made it unfeasible for both of us to continue right now and we have decided to part ways. I wish Seb all the best moving forwards,” Raducanu tweeted.

The world No 107 is currently out of action after undergoing surgeries on both her wrists and her ankle last month. The Brit revealed she would miss “the next few months” following the surgeries, so will almost certainly be unable to play at Wimbledon.

Raducanu has played just 10 matches across five tournaments so far in 2023 and has a 5-5 record. She sustained an ankle injury which forced her to retire during her second round match in Auckland in January in her first event of the season.

The 20-year-old then lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Coco Gauff, before next competing in Indian Wells almost two months later.

There, she achieved her best result of the season to date by winning three matches to reach the last 16, where she was beaten by Iga Swiatek.

Raducanu lost in the opening round in Miami and Stuttgart to Bianca Andreescu and Jelena Ostapenko respectively at her two tournaments since.