2023-10-20 11:18:12
Emma Raducanu says ‘provoking’ questions have contributed to turnover of coaches
Former British number one Emma Raducanu says her “provoking” and “challenging” questions could explain why she has had a high turnover of coaches.
“I ask my coaches a lot of questions,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“On certain occasions they haven’t been able to keep up with the questions I’ve asked and maybe that’s why it ended.”
The 20-year-old added: “It’s something I’ve always done. I keep provoking and asking questions to coaches and challenging their thinking as well. I’m not someone that you can just tell me what do and I’ll do it, I need to understand why and then I’ll do it.”
Raducanu started her career with Nigel Sears, who left shortly after she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in July 2021, before Andrew Richardson guided her to her famous victory at Flushing Meadows a couple of months later.
Torben Beltz was appointed in November 2021 but left in April 2022. He was replaced by Dimitri Tursunov, who warned of “red flags” and potential problems if Raducanu continued to listen to too many voices.
The Brit has struggled to hit the levels she found when winning the US Open as an 18-year-old and has not played since losing 6-2 6-1 against Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart in April.
After undergoing surgery on both wrists and an ankle in May, Raducanu is hoping to get back into competitive action by the time the new season starts.
“I will be coming back with probably a lower ranking, but I’m actually looking forward to starting again, kind of resetting,” she told Karthi Gnanasegaram.
“I still have new goals, new things I want to achieve. But I’ve still got like 15 years left in my career, so there’s no rush.”
Raducanu also has an ambition to represent Great Britain at the Olympics, although Paris 2024 might come too soon.
“Obviously, the Olympics is such a big thing in sport,” she said.
“I think I could play another four if I really wanted to, so this one isn’t the immediate rush or pressure, it’s just about getting back on court.
“I love the Slams but I do want to have the Olympic experience. I’ll just see how it goes, if I even qualify and how it goes from there.”
Raducanu was just 16 when she made her professional debut. She enjoyed a whirlwind few years, winning two ITF titles in 2018 – her maiden campaign – and representing Great Britain in the qualifying round of the Fed Cup in 2020.
The high point came in 2021 when she lifted the US Open title – becoming the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade’s Wimbledon triumph in 1977.
Her time on the court has been limited due to a string injuries since that triumph at Flushing Meadows and she says now is the time to “reset.”
Raducanu is set to celebrate her 21st birthday next month but, with focus on trying to get back on the court regularly, it will be a more reserved occasion.
“I’ll probably just have dinner with my parents,” Raducanu said.
Born in Toronto to a Romanian father and a Chinese mother, Raducanu was raised in England and is fluent in three languages – English, Mandarin and Romanian.
She admits being thrust centre stage so early in her career was difficult and is “still trying to get her bearings”, although the world number 280 is already thinking ahead to what might come when she retires.
“Overall, I’m a lot better, I just feel like it’s part of my day now and part of my life. It’s not just tennis and fitness, it’s the other commercial side as well and that’s totally ok,” added Raducanu.
“You have to think ahead about your life after your career is over and I think a lot of successful athletes would have said ‘I wish maybe when I was younger I did think ahead a bit’.
“I think I have a lot of bandwidth, knowledge, learning and time, so I’m just curious about everything and every different world I can get into. But at the end of the day, tennis and training is my priority.”
1697912151
#Emma #Raducanu #British #star #provoking #questions #contributed #turnover #coaches