By SABC Sport
25th July 2023
The 20-year-old tennis sensation, who achieved her historic victory at the US Open in 2021 when she was just 18, has collaborated with five different coaches within the past two years.
Max Eisenbud, the senior vice-president at IMG, stated on The Tennis Podcast that this approach has been beneficial for Raducanu and her father, Ian.
"It's probably going to be like that for the rest of her career. That's what's comfortable for them," Eisenbud said.
"I'm not saying it is right or wrong, but that is the way they have done it, and I think it is fine to do things differently."
Her coaching journey began with Nigel Sears, who departed shortly after her remarkable fourth-round performance at Wimbledon in 2021. Andrew Richardson then guided her to her unforgettable triumph at Flushing Meadows.
Afterwards, Torben Beltz took the reins in November 2021 but left in April 2022. He was succeeded by Dimitri Tursunov, who raised concerns about potential issues if Raducanu continued to heed too many voices. Just last month, she ended her collaboration with Sebastian Sachs.
Raducanu underwent wrist and ankle surgeries in May, and it's anticipated that she won't return to the court until later this year.
Eisenbud asserted that the pattern of changing coaches has proven to be a successful approach for Raducanu, beginning from her junior career.
"Her dad and Emma control all the coaching stuff," he said.
"All the way up through the juniors, they never had coaches a long time, so, for them, that's calm waters - having a coach for four to five months and then going on to someone else.
"Emma and her dad have their own philosophy. Richard Williams (father of Venus and Serena) had his own philosophy, which was different, and Yuri Sharapova (father of Maria) had his.
"We are not sitting in a sport that has a plethora of great coaches - maybe eight, nine or 10 great coaches.
"Most of the great, great coaches don't want to travel for 35 or 40 weeks a year and leave their families, so you have a small pool that are willing to travel and charge very little money, so they keep getting recycled and recycled. That is why you see coaches hopping around."