Emma Raducanu suffered a first-round defeat at the Singapore Open on Monday – her first match since splitting with the latest in a long line of coaches during her career.
World No.101 Cristina Bucsaconjured up a 5-7 7-5 7-5 over Raducanu in her first match since her Australian Open exit.
She is currently searching for another coach after Nick Cavaday ended their 14-month partnership because of health issues.
The 22-year-old first worked with Cavaday as a child and he became her full-time coach ahead of last season.
Raducanu has struggled to retain a coach since she started her professional career with Nigel Sears.
Since then a long list of coaches have come and gone, as she has struggled to return to the top of tennis since her maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2021.
Raducanu’s Coaches During Her Career
As previously mentioned, the first of many coaches for Emma Raducanu was Nigel Sears – who left after she reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2021.
Just over two months later, former British tennis player Andrew Richardson coached Raducanu for her greatest career success to date when she won the US Open in September 2021.
Richardson has signed a nine-week trial contract as Raducanu’s coach and hoped to extend. But he told the Daily Mail that he got a call from Raduacanu’s agent saying they were going to go in a different direction.
Torben Beltz had a short spell as her coach between November 2021 and April 2022 before the likes of Iain Bates became a temporary coach.
Raducanu then opted to work with her former youth coach Jane O’Donoghue in preparation for Wimbledon in 2022, while also acting as a technical consultant was Lawn Tennis Association’s veteran doubles guru, Louis Cayer.
Also during 2022, she was briefly coached by Russian former world No.20 Dmitry Tursunov.
Tursunov, as per CNN, said he decided to stop coaching Raducanu at the end of his trial period because of “red flags” that he could not ignore.
From December 2022 to June 2023, she worked with Sebastian Sachs. Raducanu’s team insisted the split with Sachs was mutual as the Brit was unable to do any on court work for several months due to an injury.
Raducanu enjoyed the most stable period of her career with Cavaday, but is now on the lookout for the next in a line of coaches.
British Star On Why She Has Had So Many Coaches
Back in October 2023, Emma Raducanu gave her verdict on why she has had so many coaches during her career.
“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.
“It’s something I’ve always done. I keep provoking and asking questions to coaches and challenge their thinking as well.
“I’m not someone that you can just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I need to understand why and then I’ll do it.”
