Emma Raducanu: I don’t want a coach who tells me what to do

Emma Raducanu has expanded on her recent decision not to seek a full-time coach, explaining that she has had enough of “people telling me what to do”.

Raducanu has been training with an old ally, Mark Petchey, in Indian Wells over the past week as she prepares for Friday’s meeting with Russian qualifier Anastasia Zakharova.

But Petchey is more of a consultant than a coach, because of his pre-existing commentary commitments to the Tennis Channel and TNT Sports.

In her latest comments, made to the BBC in Indian Wells, Raducanu acknowledged that any further full-time appointments would put her under pressure to stick with the coach in question, even if the relationship was not going well.

“Right now, it’s more about bringing my instincts back out, getting back in touch with myself,” said Raducanu, who dismissed her latest coach Francis Roig in January after the changes they made to her forehand over the off-season proved counter-productive.

“I have had a lot of people telling me what to do, how to play, and it hasn’t necessarily fit,” Raducanu added. “So I want to come back to my natural way of playing. That takes time to relearn because that’s something that has been coached out of me a little bit.

“I don’t necessarily want to have one coach in the role because anyone I bring in is straight away going to be scrutinised – even if it’s a trial. I might feel the pressure to stick with them, even if it’s not necessarily the right decision.

“I would love to have a coach that works well, but I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be easy to find one person and they are going to check every box. I definitely have my mind open to it. It’s just that I would rather someone not come in and tell me, ‘Let’s do this’, and I disagree with it but have to listen to them.

“So far Alexis [Canter, her 27-year-old hitting partner] has been really good, but I am definitely going to tap into a few people here and there.”

Tim Henman, meanwhile, has said Raducanu must become “physically more resilient” if she wants to compete with the best players in the world.

Britain’s top-ranked woman has endured a difficult start to the year, making a disappointing second-round exit at the Australian Open and then dismissing her coach Roig.

During an intriguing series of press conferences in Melbourne, Raducanu spoke of technical and tactical issues that had been frustrating her. But Henman argues that the real issues are simpler, and revolve around her physical level of preparation.

“I don’t buy into all the technical chat,” said the four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist. “It’s about her in my opinion, getting fitter, stronger, faster, hitting the ball harder, being able to do it for longer and these patterns of play.

“You look at the physicality of [Aryna] Sabalenka, [Iga] Swiatek, of Coco Gauff, Emma’s not at that level. To a certain extent, with her physique, she might not ever be at that level, but she’s got to close the gap.

“I would be focusing wholeheartedly on that physical side, so that she’s stronger, she hits the ball harder, and she’ll have more physical resilience. She won’t get those little injuries and setbacks.”

Henman’s comments come a week after Raducanu, 23, announced a lucrative brand partnership with Uniqlo, which is thought to be worth £2.6m. This is believed to exceed even the £2.25m which world No 1 Sabalenka receives from her own clothing sponsor Nike.

Yet despite Raducanu’s enduring appeal to brands and sponsors, her ability to withstand the physical demands of week-to-week tennis remains a significant issue. She comes into Indian Wells on a run of three straight defeats after contracting a chest infection around a month ago. Her blood pressure has been checked repeatedly in her recent losses.

“I was surprised on the one hand [by the split with Roig], but then we’ve seen that coaches don’t stay long with Emma,” Henman said at a Sky Sports tennis event.

“You reflect on the last four years, what she did in America, we’ve talked a lot about that. She’s 25 in the world but I think there’s a lot of us that believe she can be a lot better. It’s probably more from a physical point of view, she has to become physically more resilient to be stronger and faster, to compete with the biggest titles and the best players.”

Raducanu said last week that she is no longer looking for a coach after her working relationship with Roig ended. She went on to reach her first final since winning the US Open in 2021, at a WTA Tour event in Cluj, Romania. However, she looked exhausted as she won only two games in the final against a dominant Sorana Cirstea.

Asked about Raducanu’s coaching situation, Henman told reporters: “I worked with three coaches in 15 years. I liked consistency and continuity and that’s not what Emma does.”

On the fitness and conditioning front, Raducanu started last season with the highly rated physical trainer Yutaka Nakamura in her corner, but he stepped away in the middle of the year. Her newest hire on that front is Emma Stewart, who used to work for British Rowing. Stewart was not at her first two tournaments following the Australian Open but did return for the Dubai 1000 event.

“I understand the way she wants to play, she’s an attacking baseline player,” Henman said. “If I could add one element to her game, it would only be on the physical side. To get stronger, to get faster, and hit the ball harder.

“Her game technically – people will try and point to changes, whether it’s a serve or a forehand, it’s nothing to do with that. She won the US Open – her game is good enough.

“Do you want to go down the line? Go down the line. Don’t miss, keep the ball in. In my mind, it’s not that complicated.”