Emma Raducanu has decided who she wants as her next permanent coach but there’s a problem

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Emma Raducanu is once again in the headlines regarding her coaching situation.

The 22-year-old has been through multiple coaches since she burst on the scene in 2021, where she produced a stunning US Open title run.

After Nick Cavaday chose to leave his role as Raducanu’s coach due to health issues at the start of the season, Raducanu was once again on the lookout for a new coach.

She has since joined forces with Mark Petchey who previously coached her during her youth, but their current coaching dynamic is a precarious one.

What is the potential problem with Emma Raducanu‘s coaching setup with Mark Petchey?

Emma Raducanu is said to be enjoying working with former ATP player Mark Petchey.

The 54-year-old is one of the great minds in professional tennis and the pair were first spotted together at the Miami Open, where Raducanu won four successive matches to reach the quarter-finals.

He has been in her box at her matches ever since and according to BBC broadcaster Russell Fuller on 5 Live Sport, Raducanu would love for Petchey to exclusively coach her.

But given his commitment to commentating and his contract with Tennis Channel, Fuller thinks that could be a problem for the former WTA World number 10.

“She would like it to be more of an exclusive arrangement with Mark Petchey but it just wasn’t possible to agree a deal, given that Petchey does most of his work in the broadcast media and has a contract with the Tennis Channel and other broadcasters and he has become very successful and established in that field,” Fuller said.

“As he is well aware, a job coaching Raducanu is not always a job for life, so at the moment he is trying to do both. That seems to be working pretty well from Raducnau’s perspective.

“I don’t think he has missed a match yet in Miami, Madrid and Rome but I was watching her practice today and he wasn’t there for that session, Jane O’Donoghue was there instead.

“She is going to be going back to her job in finance shortly. So she needs to find somebody else to complement the work she is doing with Mark Petchey.

“It is a little precarious and it’s potentially expensive as well. Because whereas it’s not unusual for a player to have a couple of coaches, they wouldn’t normally be at the same event in the same week and under this set up I think she is always going to have a couple of people with her.”

Emma Raducanu comments on her coaching setup

Raducanu has developed a reputation in tennis for her short coaching stints.

But it appears that she wants to be coached by Petchey for the long term, given he is a familiar face both to her and British tennis.

Also part of her team is Jane O’Donoghue, a former British tennis player who has been sharing her expertise with Raducanu, especially in the absence of Petchey.

Commenting on her coaching setup, Raducnau told 5 Live: “It’s great to have Mark and Jane around, as people I really trust them. I think it’s been working pretty well.

“Mark is doing his commentary work and around that he is going to help me as much as he can and hopefully the times align so that he can be with me in the matches. That is why Jane is here, for when he is not able to help me in the sessions.”

She added: “It could be something that I want to do more with Mark. Jane is around, so while she is not working it’s nice to have her as much as possible, but she will go back to work and then I need to figure another solution out.”