A lot of the time the ideas come from myself: Raducanu starts Madrid without full-time coach

Emma Raducanu gave a few more details about the new training model she wants to try following her split with coach Torben Beltz

Emma Raducanu of Great Britain talks to the media ahead of the 2022 Mutua Madrid Open WTA 1000 tennis tournament Image Credit: Zuma / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

April 28, 2022

US Open champion Emma Raducanu will place more emphasis on sparring with fellow players in the coming months, the Brit said while speaking to the media in Madrid on Wednesday.

The 19-year-old Brit announced her split with Torben Beltz announced a few days ago. Beltz was the third coach that Raducanu has parted ways with over the past 12 months (Nigel Sears and Andrew Richardson were the other two).

Speaking in Madrid as quoted by Sky Sports, the British teen paid tribute to Beltz and later delved into why she is not in a hurry to start working with a new coach immediately.

“Torben is a great guy. I really enjoyed my time with him on and off the court. He is one of the nicest people I’ve met so obviously it was a tough one to split with someone like that. I think Torben has been great for me because when I wanted someone with tour experience, I think for my first six months on the tour, it was very valuable.”

“But I feel like right now I’m very comfortable with my current training. I’m feeling very confident in what I’m doing and how I’m working. I feel like over the last few weeks it’s definitely become more apparent and especially as I’ve spent more time on the tour playing more matches against these top opponents, that I kind of understand what I feel like I need more of.”

It is becoming more apparent to me as I spend more time on the tour is just getting used to these girls’ ball speed: Raducanu

Playing her first full season on the pro tour, Raducanu has faced criticism for her inability to grind out wins in long matches. Four of her seven losses in 2022 came in the deciding set (including a third-set retirement in Guadalajara). The Brit says she realises she needs to practice with and play against the pros as she adjusts to their speed of shot and outlined her plan for the same.

“I think going forward I’ll probably be putting a lot more emphasis on sparring. It is becoming more apparent to me as I spend more time on the tour is just getting used to these girls’ ball speed. I like to mix it up. I like to work very specifically and I’m very clear on what I want to work on. A lot of the time those ideas come from myself.”

Supported by Iain Bates of the Lawn Tennis Association this week at the Madrid Open, Raudcanu will hope to build on her impressive performance last week in Stuttgart where she won back-to-back matches for just the second time since October. The Brit meets Czech Tereza Martincova in the first round. She could meet seventh seed Garbine Muguruza in the third round and then run into Canada’s Leylah Fernandez in a repeat of their US Open final clash in the last 16.