Emma Raducanu has had a turbulent career both on and off the court since winning the 2021 US Open.
At the age of 18, the British number one shocked the world by lifting the title in New York after coming through the qualifiers without dropping a set.
Since then Raducanu has suffered numerous injuries and has failed to win another title since her US Open triumph.
She has also been through numerous coaches throughout her career, but the world number 38 now seems to be more settled with Mark Petchey.
Emma Raducanu explains the issues with previous coaches that Mark Petchey has changed
Emma Raducanu has developed a reputation in tennis for her short coaching stints.
She has been coached by Sebastian Sachs, Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz and Dmitry Tursunov.
Raducanu was last coached by Nick Cavaday, but he chose to leave his role as Raducanu’s coach due to health issues at the start of the season.
She is now working with Petchey, someone who previously coached her in her younger years. This is key for Raducanu, who shared that she would prefer to work with someone she has built trust with, which could explain why many of her other partnerships did not work.
“It just felt like I couldn’t speak out really, because I didn’t want what I said to kind of be shared and spoken about and gossiped about, because you know how the Chinese whispers go. It’s just exaggerated and things are twisted,” Raducanu told The Guardian.
“So I just prefer to keep everything in and that is not necessarily the best thing because when you’re on the court, you’re kind of playing, holding a lot in rather than being expressive, and that’s when I’m at my best.”
Emma Raducanu is set for first Wimbledon with Mark Petchey as her coach
With Petchey in her corner, Raducanu is set to compete at Wimbledon for the fourth time.
She is back in the WTA’s top 40 and will bid to surpass her best performance at the Championships, having reaching the last 16 on two occasions.
This will be a very challenging campaign for Raducanu, but she will commence it with a meeting with fellow Brit and wildcard Mimi Xu, who has described her as a ‘role model’.
“I was at the national academy in Loughborough when Emma was playing in the US Open final and me and all the girls who boarded there watched it,” Xu said.
“We were all gathered around the TV – it was absolutely amazing. She’s someone I’ve looked up to and I think she’s a really good role model to have.”
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