Emma Raducanu has said that she is no longer looking for a coach, as she spoke in Japan in connection with her new £2.6m deal with Uniqlo.
Raducanu’s declaration of independence is highly unusual. The list of players without coaches on the women’s tour is vanishingly small; at least, among those players who are able to afford a coach.
Yet there may also be an element of pragmatism to this decision. Raducanu’s chequered record with coaches has reached the point where she would find it hard to attract quality applicants in any case.
“Right now I wouldn’t say I’m actively looking for a coach,” Raducanu told The Guardian. “I know the drills that I need to be doing right now in this moment in time … just repetition of doing those key fundamentals. I think I want to go back to that and [to develop] a more aggressive style of playing.”
Raducanu’s most recent coach – her eighth or ninth, depending on how you count – was Francis Roig, a Spaniard who had previously been part of Rafael Nadal’s team for years.
But after a disappointing start to the season in Australia, Raducanu expressed her dissatisfaction with their work together. While she clearly liked Roig as a person and travelling companion, she was unhappy with the way her recently remodelled forehand kept breaking down, as well as his emphasis on playing with variety.
After an error-strewn second-round loss to Anastasia Potapova, Raducanu told reporters: “I just want to hit the ball to the corners and hard. I need to just work on playing in a way more similar to how I was playing when I was younger. I always just changed direction, took the ball early, and went for it.”
After announcing that she had parted with Roig on January 29, Raducanu went to Cluj-Napoca with her hitting partner Alexis Canter – a British former player who can run drills but has no significant coaching experience of his own. The tournament went well, as she reached her first final since the 2021 US Open. However, she was then afflicted by an illness which contributed to first-round exits at the two Middle Eastern events: Doha and Dubai.
“In Cluj, I picked up like a virus, I think, at the start of the tournament,” Raducanu said. “So I was dealing with that and the after-effects … I had really long effects for the last three weeks. I’ve been trying to clear them. So the Middle East trip was very difficult for me.
“I’m getting ready for Indian Wells,” Raducanu said, referring to the so-called fifth major in California which starts next week. “And just trying to get back to full health. And I still have a bit of time, so I’m just looking forward to doing my best to be ready for that.
Raducanu added: “Right now I have Alexis in my corner. He knows me as a person. He knows me as a player. And I’ve actually had some success with him in the past year in Washington [where she reached the semi-finals after defeating Naomi Osaka] and Cluj … so it’s going well.”
The world No 25 may be struggling with inconsistency on the court but her commercial appeal remains strong, judging by the reported £2.6m-a-year deal with Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo.
Telegraph Sport understands Raducanu will play an active role in designing her on-court apparel and will participate in community-engagement activities worldwide as part of the deal.