Mark Petchey, Emma Raducanu’s previous coach, has opened up about working with the 21-year-old and her dedication and work ethic in the background. A year before Raducanu’s incredible triumph at the US Open, Petchey temporarily coached the rising star.
Since her victory, she has battled with form, needing surgery on one ankle and both wrists due to recurrent injury issues. Now that Raducanu is back on the court, she is trying to regain her previous form, and Petchey thinks she has the mindset to do so in style.
He expressed her remarks about Raducanu recently and said: “I totally adore her. We do not speak as much these days as back then. It was a great time. She was 17 and mixing A-levels with tennis practice. It was during Covid at the National Tennis Centre. She never missed a practice, driving herself from Bromley and smashing it with her A-levels. She took on board everything we decided to work on.”
He further said: “We changed her racket, her serve and forehand techniques and she was open-minded and dedicated to everything we did. I did three and four-hour practice sessions with her and she would be out there no problem at all. She worked her butt off. That is all I ever saw. Any criticism I see coming her way, I just dismiss because that is not the person I saw.”
When asked if he thought Raducanu needed more consistency from her coaching staff instead of the changes, Petchey remarked: “What’s at the bottom of it all is to make sure you haven’t missed any information. Nobody can know it all. When I coach somebody, I do ask others’ opinions and ask if there is something I should be doing. I am in favour of it but to a point. Too much different information does complicate the issue. Emma needs a period of stability for a year. She is still so young in her career. I do think she will get back into the top 20, but even if she was still stuck at 100, it wouldn’t change my opinion of her. That is, when it clicks she could go on a two or three major year.”
Emma Raducanu in 2024
LWWLWWLLWW Ranked no.168, Raducanu played her last match on the 27th of June when she lost to world no.14 Darya Kasatkina 6-2 6-2 in the quarter in Eastbourne (draw).
At present, during this year Raducanu owns a 13-9 match record. Emma Raducanu’s best accomplishment of the year was getting to the semifinal in Nottingham.
Emma Raducanu will take on the world no.22 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the 1st round. They have never competed against each other as of now in top tournaments.
