Raducanu to begin trial with new coach Platenik at Indian Wells

The Briton previously played under the guidance of Nick Cavaday, who stepped away in January due to health concerns

Raducanu lost to Aryna Sabalenka at last year’s Indian Wells © Zuma / Psnewz

March 6, 2025

Emma Raducanu is set to begin a trial period with new coach Vladimir Platenik when she plays Moyuka Uchijima in the opening round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

The Slovakian is with Raducanu in California for the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament, alongside Loughborough Academy coach Tom Welsh who has also travelled with the Briton but is understood to be in her camp only for the duration of this event.

Raducanu was previously working with Nick Cavaday, a trusted coach whose stewardship was proving successful, but he chose to step away from coaching duties in January due to ongoing health concerns.

Platenik worked with fellow Slovak Dominika Cibulkova when she reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2009, and has also coached Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova, as well as being in Lulu Sun’s box when the New Zealander knocked Raducanu out of Wimbledon in the fourth round last summer.

Currently ranked 55th in the world, Raducanu’s coaching set-up has been the source of much scrutiny over the past three years. Since she stunned the sporting world by winning the 2021 US Open as a qualifier, the Briton has overseen a conveyor belt of coaching changes, with Cavaday serving as her sixth coach in under three years.

A few weeks before that partnership was unfortunately cut short, Raducanu added renowned Japanese fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura to her set-up in a clear statement of intent to improve her fitness and address the injury woes that have plagued her professional career thus far.

It also signalled Raducanu’s eagerness to establish a settled and long-term team around her in a departure from her previous philosophy of extracting specific information from a coach before moving on. An established team remains the new plan for Raducanu.

“I don’t want to rush into anything, but I’m looking, I’m finding options and setting trials up,” she told reporters ahead of the start of the tournament in Indian Wells.

“I think once I have a structure in place, I will feel very set.”

new coaching set-up offers fresh chapter for raducanu after distressing few weeks

Having been catapulted to prominence at the age of 18 following her extraordinary achievement in New York in 2021, distressing events in recent weeks have shone a spotlight on the darker sides of sudden fame.

Raducanu had to deal with a man who followed her across four tournaments in four different countries last month, and was visibly upset when the same man appeared at her first-round match in Dubai before ultimately being handed a restraining order by the Dubai police.

This incident occurred over a period during which the Briton was without a full-time coach, something that Raducanu has admitted she did not find easy.

“In the Middle East it was very difficult for me because I didn’t really have any direction or [advice on] which tournaments to play, and it was very difficult doing it all on my own.

“I’m that kind of person who needs a plan and needs preparation. That’s what I’m building and that’s making me feel more comfortable.”

With the ordeal in Dubai behind her, and a fresh chance to reignite a – perhaps understandably – faltering season, Raducanu will hope that a tournament she has always enjoyed, and whose conditions lend themselves well to her game, can provide the springboard for a new period of success.

As Platenik and Nakamura work together for the first time at Indian Wells in the Briton’s new-look coaching team, this feels very much as though it could be the beginning a new era for Raducanu – one that, hopefully, will yield much success.