Emma Raducanu has returned working with Andrew Richardson, the coach she won her US Open title with in 2021, as she looks set to begin her clay-court season at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.
The British No 1 was heavily criticised for parting ways with Andrew Richardson following her incredible success in New York in 2021.
And Raducanu’s camp confirmed she spent time training last week in Spain with Richardson at the Ferrer Tennis Academy near Alicante, where he is based.
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Highlights from the Indian Wells match between Emma Raducanu and Amanda Anisimova.
The 23-year-old last played a match at Indian Wells when she won just two games in a 52-minute defeat to Amanda Anisimova.
She also pulled out of the WTA Tour events in Miami and Linz as she prioritised her rehabilitation from post-viral symptoms on the back of an illness she picked up in Romania during early February.
Raducanu – who also opted to sit out Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier against Australia – and this week’s Madrid Open as she continues to recover full fitness.
Since splitting from her latest coach Francisco Roig in the wake of her second-round defeat at the Australian Open, she had been working on an informal basis with Mark Petchey.
Since the split from Roig, Raducanu insisted she is happy working only with hitting partner Alexis Canter, a 27-year-old British former player who reached a career-high ranking of 779 last year.
Raducanu retained Canter as part of her setup as well as working with Mark Petchey at Indian Wells.
Raducanu spent time training last week in Spain with Richardson
But now Raducanu has reportedly enlisted the help of the coach who famously guided her to the US Open title in New York, where she became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam title, ahead of the WTA 1000 event in Rome which begins on Tuesday, May 5.
Speaking to the Daily Mail in 2023, Richardson, who also coached Raducanu as a junior, revealed he had been keen to continue their short-term partnership after the US Open, but she chose to hire a more experienced tour coach in Torben Beltz.
That proved to be one of a succession of brief coaching appointments Raducanu has made during her career.
It was unclear whether she would make the Italian Open in Rome, which begins on Tuesday, but, having returned to training, Raducanu is hopeful of playing and will practise at the Foro Italico on Saturday.
The news is a boost for British tennis, with Jack Draper missing the rest of the clay-court season because of a knee injury.
Does Raducanu need a coach?
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Sky Sports’ Tim Henman and Martina Navratilova debate if Emma Raducanu needs to commit to a long-term coach and improve her off-court physicality to reach her full potential.
Speaking in February, Sky Sports analyst Henman said Raducanu doesn’t need a coach and should concentrate on working on her physicality to match the likes of fellow Grand Slam champions Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff.
“I just wonder whether she’s better off without a coach and that’s nothing against Petch,” said the four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist. “He’s someone I’ve known for a long time and he’s a very, very good coach but we know it’s not going to be a full-time appointment because Petch has his broadcast commitments.
“Emma has talked about her identity, her game style and she wants to own it. She’s been around long enough on the tour so I wonder whether that might be a good option for her but it’s her prerogative.
“I worked with three coaches in 15 years. I like the consistency and continuity and we know that coaches don’t last long working with Emma.
“An aggressive game style is how you have to play. You have got to be aggressive because if you don’t your opponent will be and for me. I want to see her build her physicality: to get stronger, more resilient, to hit the ball harder.
“And I think if she does that, that’ll mean that she has fewer interruptions and fewer setbacks physically. She’ll be able to compete at a high level for longer periods, so if I could add one element it would be the physical side.
“Raducanu does work on her physical side. I think her tennis game is outstanding but when you think of the physicality of Sabalenka, Swiatek, Rybakina, Gauff, she’s not in the same league.
“The physicality is the biggest challenge.”
Petchey helped inspire the most productive period of Raducanu’s season as she reached the quarter-finals at Queen’s before running Sabalenka close in the third round of Wimbledon.
Overend on Raducanu finding the right balance
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Jonathan Overend believes that if Emma Raducanu can find the right balance with the correct coach, she will be set up for a great year of tennis.
Sky Sports’ lead tennis commentator Jonathan Overend said Raducanu will only be able to find the right balance in her setup once she answers a key question.
“I think she has spent a lot of her young career re-evaluating,” he said. “In one regard, it explains why she has been through so many coaches and why she has been criticised for it.
“It’s typical of Raducanu that she wants to keep re-evaluating and finding out what is best for her on and around a tennis court.
“That challenge continues, and to some extent it is a struggle, because finding the right balance is so hard, but I think she is slowly getting [it], not in terms of her Grand Slam results but in terms of that re-evaluation process.
“What is it she really wants for herself on a tennis court and in tournaments?”
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