Emma Raducanu resumes trial with Dmitry Tursunov: ‘We need to see how we compliment each other’

Emma Raducanu press conference

It remains too early to tell if Emma Raducanu will continue her partnership with Dmitry Tursunov on a long-term basis with the US Open saying they still have to see if they complement each other.

Raducanu raised a few eyebrows when she announced in July that she had started working with former top 20 player Tursunov ahead of the North American hard-court swing.

The agreement was on a short-term basis with the Russian initially only working with her during the Citi Open as he couldn’t join her at the Canadian Open last week due to pre-existing plans.

However, he will be back in her coaching box at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati this week on an experimental basis.

“He’s here, we’re continuing the trial,” the British No 1 said. “It’s mainly, we just need to see how we work with each other, how we complement each other. That’s it, I guess. It’s too early to tell.”

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Tursunov is Raducanu’s fourth coach since she made her breakthrough at top level at Wimbledon last year. Nigel Sears was her mentor when she reached the fourth round at SW19 before she appointed Andrew Richardson, who was in charge when she became the first qualifier to win the US Open.

Her agreement with Richardson was short-term and she then turned to Torben Beltz in November, but split with the German in April and worked with coaches from the LTA on an interim basis.

Tursunov, meanwhile, previously coached Anett Kontaveit and under his tutelge the Estonian climbed into the top 10 of the WTA Rankings and also finished runner-up at the 2021 WTA Finals, but they went their separate ways in June after the Russian struggled to fly to certain tournaments due to visa difficulties.

Tursunov’s first assignment in Cincinnati will be to help Raducanu to get past Serena Williams in a mouthwatering first round of the WTA 1000 clash on Tuesday.

It will be the first time that the British teenager faces 23-time Grand Slam winner Williams, who announced last week that she is retiring after the US Open.

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Raducanu has struggled for form this year as she is yet to win more than two consecutive matches. She lost in the first-round of the Canadian Open last week and made a quarter-final exit from the Citi Open a fortnight ago.

“To have success at a young age, obviously you have to be really grateful because I’m doing what I love, but also I’ve reached success way earlier than I ever really would have thought I did,” Raducanu said. “So I’m pretty proud of myself in that way.

“But it has been a tough year. I’ve definitely gone through and experienced a lot of challenges. To be fair, I’ve learned a lot from all of it.”

The 19-year-old is hoping for a confidence-boosting run in Cincinnati ahead of her title defence at the US Open. Raducanu is in danger of slipping down the rankings as she has 2,000 points to defend at the Flushing Meadows.

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