Emma Raducanu insists she is in no rush to find a new coach as the former US Open champion looks to revert to a “more aggressive style of play”. The British tennis player has got through several coaches in a relatively short career, with Francisco Roig the latest to leave the role after the Spaniard spent six months working with Raducanu.
The 23-year-old was outspoken after a second-round loss to Anastasia Potapova at the Australian Open, saying she wanted to be playing “in a way more similar to when I was younger”. In Raducanu’s next tournament in Romania she reached her first final since the stunning US Open triumph in 2021 and she insisted she remains happy working with hitting partner Alexis Canter, a 27-year-old former British player who reached a career-high ranking of 779 last year.
“Right now I wouldn’t say I’m actively looking for a coach,” Raducanu told the Guardian. “I have Alexis in my corner. He knows me as a person. He knows me as a player and I’ve actually had some success with him in the past year. So it’s going well. “I know the drills that I need to be doing… just repetition of doing those key fundamentals. I think I want to go back to that and a more aggressive style of playing.”
Raducanu’s run to the final in Cluj-Napoca — where she won just two games against Sorana Cirstea — came at the cost of contracting a virus she struggled to shake off while losing in the first round of two tournaments in the Middle East. “I had really long effects for the last three weeks,” she said. “I’ve been trying to clear them. So the Middle East trip was very difficult for me.
“I’m getting ready for Indian Wells and just trying to get back to full health. And I still have a bit of time, so I’m just looking forward to doing my best to be ready for that.” Despite her recent setbacks, Raducanu remains 25th in the world rankings heading into the WTA tournament in Indian Wells, California, starting on March 4.
