Emma Raducanu may have just reached her second career tour-level final, but scrutiny still remains high.
After all, it seems like no matter what the 22-year-old does, she remains a lightning rod for criticism.
Boris Becker was slammed for his recent Raducanu comments, whilst many casual onlookers revelled in the opportunity to once again ridicule her.
Fortunately, Mark Petchey was not one of them, although he did have some crucial advice for the British number one.
Emma Raducanu given advice from former coach
Speaking on the Big T Podcast, the former coach of both Emma Raducanu and Andy Murray rated the former’s performance in Romania.
He began by revealing: “We’ve messaged a few times. I did watch her play.
Who should be Emma Raducanu’s next coach?
“Listen, I think obviously it was nice to see her get some wins. It was nice to see some confidence. It was nice to see the fight was back. She was playing the way that she wants to play. That was something I think she felt that she had lost a little bit in recent times.
“And I think that from my perspective, watching her play, that she really only has one choice.. She needs to stay up on the baseline, she needs to be able to redirect, and she needs to serve well. And if she can put those components on the court, she’s going to give herself a chance to win big matches.
“I thought she did well to kind of get through the draw. I don’t necessarily feel as though her tennis was where it needed to be. I do think that she was suffering a little bit from health problems, but I think she’s got a good three, four weeks of hard work to get her back to where you would like to see her be in terms of being able to challenge those big hitters, which has obviously been in recent times the stumbling block for her.
“I think that there is still work to do to kind of put that piece of the puzzle back together so that she can feel very comfortable with what she’s doing out on the tennis court.”
However, there is still a long way to go before Raducanu reaches the level she’ll be craving, and Petchey added: “I would think that she will feel as though her tennis needs to go up quite a few gears if she’s going to suddenly get back out on the court with Sabalenka and Rybakina.”
Emma Raducanu won her first Grand Slam too soon – Prove me wrong!
He concluded by suggesting that she perhaps made an error in the days that followed by not withdrawing from Qatar, stating: “I personally would have done exactly what you said, I would’ve pulled her out after making points in Cluj, she obviously has a quarterfinal in Miami coming up to defend, but I do think that having watched her play with my coaching hat on, not as a friend, not as a former coach, but having watched her play, I would have taken her out of certainly this week and probably the next week, to be honest, because I do think there are certain things that she needs to feel comfortable on in practice.”
Emma Raducanu might have made a mistake after reaching her final
Although she was likely keen to ride a wave of momentum, perhaps Raducanu’s decision to rush from Romania to Qatar for her first-round match was a mistake.
Although that is easy to say with hindsight.
The signs of her retirement against Camila Osorio were there though, given Raducanu admitted she was ill in her final after losing to Sorana Cirstea.
Hopefully, she can recover in time for the second Masters 1000 tournament of the year in Dubai, and prove that speeding to the Middle East was not a lapse in judgment.
