Emma Raducanu has a new method for dealing with criticism, having grown frustrated with a focus over her personal life and decision to continually switch coaches
Emma Raducanu says she tries to take a leaf out of the Royal Family’s book when dealing with her critics. Raducanu has spent her entire professional career in the spotlight after winning the US Open at the age of 18 back in 2021.
That early success made her a household name and has become a double-edged sword, providing huge opportunities and success, as well as harsh criticism. Raducanu has sometimes found it difficult to deal with the focus on her personal life, injury struggles and career decisions.
Her decision to pull out of playing in the mixed doubles with Andy Murray at Wimbledon in 2024 sparked anger, while rumours of a romance with Carlos Alcaraz often overshadowed the tennis at SW19 this year. The other regular topic concerns Raducanu’s continual changing of coaches, with Francisco Roig the latest to join her team.
Raducanu believes the perception over her high turnover of coaches is unfair, but tries not to let it get to her. “I’m a lot more clear on what I do and don’t like,” she told the Guardian.
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“The experiences that I’ve had with different coaches… People love to say I’ve had so many different coaches but if I went into the details of a lot of them, people would not be saying the same thing. I just don’t do that, because I don’t want to ‘out’ these people. So I keep it to myself.
“When you see things like: ‘Oh, Emma on her ninth coach’, I’m like: ‘Guys, come on.’ Certain ones don’t count. If you’ve had a trial, you don’t have to carry on after the trial. A few have been trials, a few have been other situations. I just try and take the high road and try to do what the royal family would do.”
Raducanu appeared to be referring to the Royal Family’s famous “never complain, never explain” mantra. She has certainly been unapologetic over her chopping and changing of coaches.
The 22-year-old has worked with a number of different coaches during her career, be it for a prolonged period of time or a short stint. She credited Mark Petchey for his influence at Wimbledon this year and has also worked with Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov, Sebastian Sachs and Vladimir Platenik over the years.
She is now gearing up for the US Open with Roig, the former coach and mentor of Rafael Nadal. And, as for the constant speculation about her personal life and presence of paparazzi, she tries to ignore it.
“I guess it comes with the territory, people being so curious,” she added. “I think they’re more curious about this news than any tennis results and tennis news.
“But I just keep to myself, my private life to one side. It’s always funny when people try to find something out, but I try not to read into it so much.”