“I wanted to carry on” – Richardson, who coached Raducanu to US Open title, opens up about the split

Richardson, who now works at the David Ferrer Academy in Spain and overseeing his teenage son’s tennis career, said he would love to be back on coaching on the tour in the future

Emma Raducanu at the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York Image Credit: AI/Reuters/Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

May 15, 2023

Andrew Richardson, the British coach who worked with Emma Raducanu through her stunning US Open run as a qualifier, has opened up about the details of why and how the two sides parted ways days after the British woman underwent surgeries that will keep her out of the French Open and Wimbledon.

Raducanu and Richardson were contracted to a nine-week arrangement during the 2021 American summer hardcourt stretch that was supposed to conclude at the end of the US Open. But no one in their wildest dreams would have imagined that Raducanu would go all the way to win the title as the 150th ranked qualifier and script tennis history.

However, Raducanu and her team decided not to extend the arrangement and since then she has worked with several coaches, including Torben Beltz and Dmitry Tursunov. While Richardson has kept mum on the issue since, he finally gave his side of the story in an interview to The Daily Mail.

‘The fact of the matter is that a I had a nine-week trial contract that both Emma and I thought was a good idea to see how we would get on, and it ran through to the end of the US Open, stopping immediately afterwards,’ Richardson said. ‘There was a period of time after that when I was keen to re-negotiate the contract. I wanted to carry on, and I had a plan that I wanted to put in place for Emma. This thing about ‘I wanted to go off and coach my son’ is not true, but it seems to come up all the time.

‘After probably 10 days to two weeks (following the Open) I didn’t have a contract. We were in the process of re-negotiating and then I got a brief call from her agent telling me they were going to go in a different direction, and that was the end of it.’

I’ve had offers to go back on the tour, both WTA and ATP. The timing wasn’t right, but going back on the tour is definitely something I want to do in the future.
Andrew Richardson

Despite the split, Richardson did not appear to have any hard feelings against Raducanu and said that it was a great learning experience.

‘I certainly learned a lot from the whole experience,’ says Richardson. ‘Life has moved on and I’m very busy. Since what happened with Emma I’ve had offers to go back on the tour, both WTA and ATP. The timing wasn’t right, but going back on the tour is definitely something I want to do in the future.”

‘I really love coaching, I have done it at every level from mini tennis to Grand Slams and for me the enjoyment is always the same: people buying in to what you are teaching and then the feeling like you are making a difference and improving them, he added. “When there is that connection, I find that very satisfying. I think I can empathise,’ says Richardson. ‘When I got the job with Emma it was like “Is he a tour level coach?” Some coaches give themselves a title of what type of coach they are. I work in high performance but I think you can apply the same principles to helping everyone.”

Richardson is currently coaching at the David Ferrer Academy in Spain besides working with his teenage son, Rocco who is pursuing a career in professional tennis.

“I have a situation here where my son has the best chance of pursuing his tennis, he is thriving and enjoying it, and also we are at the start of a project here which is exciting for me jobwise.”