Emma Raducanu appoints new coach in swap with fellow WTA star
Emma Raducanu has appointed Sebastian Sachs as her new coach, taking over from Dimitry Tursunov who decided to stop his partnership with the 20-year old back in October.
Sachs is the Brit’s fifth coach in 18 months, following on from predecessors Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz and most recently Tursunov.
The German, who guided Belinda Bencic to Olympic gold last year, has started working with Raducanu on a trial basis.
“We are trialling until the end of the year. Just seeing how it goes really. It has been going really well so far. I have only done a week with him. He’s a really calm influence. He is on it, switched on and excited to see how it goes,” Raducanu said to press.
Despite a lift in form following Wimbledon, Tursunov decided to leave the Raducanu camp as he spoke of ‘red flags’.
“She’s probably a two-and-a-half-year project. Her game is very raw,” Tursunov said back in late October, “It’s going to take some time, but as I said to her and to pretty much everyone on her team, ‘I think you just need to have one voice and just try that for a bit’.”
“I could have stuck around, I could have agreed on everything that her team proposed, but, deep down, I felt like that wasn’t the right thing to do.”
Bencic is now working with Tursunov, in what essentially has become a swap deal between the two players.
Raducanu’s new coach Sachs has previous experience working on the WTA tour, despite not having a stand out playing career.
As well as working with Bencic, the 30-year-old has been part of former top 10 player Julia Gorges’ team and before that as part of two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka’s setup.
Raducanu’s main struggle in 2022 has been staying fit, suffering multiple injuries throughout the season.
”My biggest goal in 2023 is to be more injury free. I just want to stay healthier for longer. This year, the demands of the tour, going from having no training or stamina to being thrown into competing at the top level, my body has struggled.”
The British number one has already started working on injury prevention, employing Andy Murray’s former physical trainer Jez Green.
Raducanu has only recently comeback to the court, following a wrist injury that saw her cutting her 2022 season short. The 2021 US Open champion played against world No.2 Ons Jabeur in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi on Friday, losing narrowly, 5-7 6-3, (10-8).
Back-to-back ? @Ons_Jabeur is our #MWTC 2022 women's champion!#ThisIsMWTC pic.twitter.com/Yx5jpm02HW
— Mubadala World Tennis Championship (@MubadalaWTC) December 16, 2022
New coach Sachs was with her in the United Arab Emirates, and there were some promising signs from the defeat.
The world no.80 will start her 2023 season in Auckland, in the first week of the new year, and has higher hopes for the upcoming campaign.
“For me, I really want to make inroads at any tournament. Slams, I love the big occasions, I love the big courts, the atmosphere. Any tournament for me, my goal is in 2023 to win a title.”
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