Emma Raducanu shot into the imagination of the tennis world when she grabbed her maiden Grand Slam title in 2021 but since then, things haven’t quite gone her way. At the time of writing – we are in 2025 – Raducanu hasn’t won another tournament at the highest level (not even a WTA 250) and has been more in the news for her fitness-related concerns and a high churn of her coaching staff.
In this piece we look at Raducanu’s coaching set-up, the changes she has made and the possible reasons behind her decision to keep changing coaches irrespective of the results.
Before the start of the 2025 tennis season, Raducanu had spoken out regarding her frequent changes to her coaching set-up. In an interview, she had remarked:
“It’s never really been my interest or philosophy to chop and change coaches. I’ve never really wanted that.
“I’m a very loyal person, whether that’s with my tennis or off the court. Or with what I eat. When I find something I like, I stick to it. I eat the same thing every single day.”
The question had obviously stemmed from the fact that over the past few years, Raducanu had made ample changes to her coaching staff. Having begun training with Nigel Sears from April 2021, she turned to Andrew Richardson for guidance at the end of that year’s Wimbledon.
Richardson was by her side when she lifted the US Open title that year, her first – and only – Grand Slam victory but it was followed by his axing that very month. It was a rather puzzling decision that led to criticism coming her way from various quarters.
Torben Beltz was her next coach who lasted for six months till April 2022 and while he had coached some of the top players in the world at that time, Raducanu sacked him because of a lack of results.
One of her coaches, Dmitry Tursunov, was involved in 2022 but chose not to extend beyond the trial period after pointing to red flags in their partnership. Tursunov had called Raducanu’s game very raw and wanted her to focus on just one voice as she built it up over time but the two couldn’t agree to those terms.
Joining Raducanu after that was Sebastian Sachs who was there between December 2022 and June 2023 but with her fitness continuing to remain a concern and Raducanu unable to take to court because of that, they called it quits mutually.
Nick Cavaday was one of the first – and the only one so far – to have lasted for more than a year with Raducanu and his departure was down to his own health reasons.
In 2025, Vlado Platenik joined the Raducanu coaching set-up following Cavaday’s exit and just two weeks into their partnership, Raducanu ended that deal too. Interestingly, Platenik helped the British player prepare for the Miami Open 2025 where she reached the quarterfinal – her maiden appearance in the last eight stage of a WTA 1000 event.
So why has Raducanu made so many changes to her coaching staff over time?
We look at the possible reasons based on what the player has explained in the past and what the experts think could be the reason for their departure:
Fitness (of the Player & the Coach!)
There have been at least two instances where the fitness of either Raducanu or the coach himself has been an issue.
In case of Nick Cavaday, Raducanu seemed to have gotten rather well with him having worked with him first as a kid and then joined her coaching set-up again in December 2023. In January 2025, however, the two had split because of a chronic illness that Cavaday was suffering from.
Raducanu had spoken quite positively about her arrangement with Cavaday before he was forced to resign from the job. It was under his tutelage that the British player had come back from an injury layoff and broken into the top 60 again.
That injury layoff had come under Sebastian Sachs who had been Raducanu’s coach for about six months before quitting the job when she was forced to stay away from court due to a whole host of surgeries.
Sachs did say at the time of leaving the following:
“It’s a pity, of course, because I like Emma and we worked very well together on the court.”
“But unfortunately, difficult situations led to difficult conversations and finally we came to this decision. I wish her a speedy recovery and hope to see her back on the court in top form soon.”
I have really enjoyed Seb’s coaching and working with him, it’s unfortunate that circumstances made it unfeasible for both of us to continue right now and we have decided to part ways. I wish Seb all the best moving forwards. 🦾 pic.twitter.com/wrewLWVDVS
— Emma Raducanu (@EmmaRaducanu) June 1, 2023
Too Many Questions?
When Raducanu was asked the same question, she did not hesitate in citing her desire to ask a lot of questions during training. According to her, some of her coaches have not quite been able to understand that and failed to give her the answers she has searched for.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme late in 2024, Raducanu said:
“I ask my coaches a lot of questions,”
“On certain occasions they haven’t been able to keep up with the questions I’ve asked and maybe that’s why it ended.”
“It’s something I’ve always done. I keep provoking and asking questions to coaches and challenging their thinking as well. I’m not someone that you can just tell me what do and I’ll do it, I need to understand why and then I’ll do it.”
Free-Spirited Raducanu
After reaching the quarterfinal at the 2025 Miami Open, Raducanu seems to have alluded to coaching being a tad restrictive to the kind of person and player that she is.
In a post-match interview at that tournament, Raducanu said:
“I’d say I’m a bit of a free spirit so I don’t need restrictions or being told what to do. I think when I’m being really authentic, that’s when I’m playing my best.”
And to be fair to Raducanu, that’s something she has always done right from the very beginning. BBC Sport has called it continuing to “remain true to her convictions”.
What are the Tennis Experts Saying?
There is almost a unanimous consensus that Raducanu’s struggles at the highest level since winning that Grand Slam title in 2021 have been down to the lack of stability in her coaching set-up.
Serena Williams’ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou has been one of the more vocal critics, calling it one of the worst things that Raducanu could do to her game. He said that Raducanu’s poor results and even her injuries were down to this instability.
However there are a few who have not been as critical with former British player Tim Henman being one of them.
Speaking at the 2025 Miami Open where Raducanu reached the quarterfinals with wins over Sayaka Ishii, Emma Navarro, McCartney Kessler and Amanda Anisimova, Henman said different tactics worked for different players.
He cited his own example, saying he had a 16-year-long career and had just three coaches but that approach did not work for every player. Henman added:
“It’s very much horses for courses and I think Emma has been very vocal that she’s very comfortable switching coaches and that’s her prerogative.”
Raducanu also had support from unexpected quarters in the form of Nick Kyrgios.
Speaking after Raducanu’s quarterfinal appearance at the Miami Open in 2025, the former Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios wrote on X (previously Twitter) of the deafening silence from the people who had criticised her for all the coaching changes.
“People awfully quiet that Raducanu is winning now – where all the experts at now? lol coach’s overrated,”
Another British player, the former world number four Johanna Konta, praised Raducanu to be her own person and not stick to the norm. In fact, Konta went on to say that she would have liked to do a lot more of that in her own career instead of letting coaching contracts run its course because of a fear of a media backlash.
