Emma Raducanu has powered to the quarter-finals of the Miami Open and is playing some of the best tennis of her career, despite parting ways from her coach before the tournament
For someone so young, Emma Raducanu has been forced to deal with a lot of criticism, but she has learnt to not let it get on top of her. So, when on the eve of the Miami Open, she wanted to change coach yet again, she didn’t hesitate.
Slovakian coach Vladimir Platenik had only been on the scene for a brief time, having been recruited by Raducanu’s father, but – even knowing what the reaction would be – the 22-year-old knew what she wanted. Platenik was out and a group of familiar faces were in.
“He is a great coach. He’s so experienced. He’s worked with so many players and brought them up to the top and developed players. I respect him a lot as a coach,” she explained. “It just wasn’t right at the time.”
Raducanu hasn’t replaced Platenik with a coach, instead gathering together a group of people who she knows well and knows can motivate her. Commentator Mark Petchey has given up time to work alongside Raducanu’s childhood mentor and former LTA coach Jane O’Donoghue and her fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura.
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The informal set-up is unusual in top-level tennis, but Raducanu isn’t concerned about that. Besides, it is propelling her to play some of the best tennis of her career. After thrashing Amanda Anisimova 6-1, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals in Miami, Raducanu guaranteed herself a place inside the top 50 for the first time since her eight-month layoff in 2023 after undergoing surgery to both wrists and her ankle.
She is now set to face another home favourite, US Open finalist Jessica Pegula, in Wednesday’s last-eight clash, which will be the first WTA 1000 quarter-final of her career.
After her remarkable US Open win in 2021, Raducanu has been through some difficult times, with injuries and external pressures – summed up by her recent brush with a stalker – providing regular stumbling blocks. Now though, it all appears to be clicking, with her serve and forehead, in particular, firing on all cylinders.
“I’ve come a long way in the last week since Indian Wells,” she told Sky Sports. “I wasn’t necessarily feeling great about my tennis, about everything, but this week I have some really good people around me who I trust and who I have fun with off the court, and that’s extremely important.
“For me, who’s just very expressive, and when I play my best, I’m definitely authentic, true to myself and creative – and I feel when I’m boxed into a regimented way then I’m not able to express myself in the same way. So I’m happy with how I realised that this week as well.”
Every player is different, but there is no doubt that Raducanu is treading an unusual path by working without a coach. Controversial Australian Nick Kyrgios is one of the few to have had success ploughing more of a lone furrow, but the experience of former British No.1 Tim Henman is more typical.
“Emma has been fairly vocal that she is comfortable switching coaches – and that’s her prerogative,” Henman told BBC Sport. “I started playing professional tennis at the end of 1992 and finished in 2007. I had three coaches.
“I liked the consistency and continuity of working with a coach for a period of time. It was right for me but that doesn’t mean it is right for Emma.”
Raducanu is certain that she’s chosen the right path for now. “I think just a relaxed environment, but focused when needs to be,” she said of the current set-up. “There’s more switching on and off rather than be on the entire time.
“I’m someone who works really hard and can be really intense, but sometimes too intense. It’s harder to be extremely focused when you need to be on the match court because you’re focused from the first minute to the last. So I think just being able to switch off and have fun with them and play Spikeball before the match, and we just create certain routines. They bring small doses of happiness that I guess just keep you going, the small things.”
Those small things are working wonders for her in the sunshine state right now.