Emma Raducanu ‘will start getting back to a bit of normality’ following Indian Wells defeat, believes Dan Evans

Dan Evans believes Emma Raducanu losing her opening match at Indian Wells may allow her to ‘get back to a bit of normality’ after a whirlwind few months.

The 18-year-old lost in straight-sets against Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her first appearance since US Open in September. Raducanu became the first qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam title after defeating fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez in the final.

Evans feels the loss could allow Raducanu to return to ‘normality’ for the rest of 2021 as she bids to qualify for season-ending WTA Finals.

“I would not know what she’s going through. I think I read somewhere that she said it was sort of a good feeling to get that match out of the way, and that’s probably true, isn’t it, that she’ll now start getting back to a bit of normality where she can play and get ready for the next tournament,” Evans said following his second round win over Kei Nishikori.

The Brit is currently playing without a permanent coach after recently splitting with Andrew Richardson and is on the lookout for somebody with more experience of the WTA Tour.

Evans has experienced time on tour without a coach earlier in his career. However, he believes Raducanu has the right team around her to keep her on the right path for the remaining 2021 season.

“It’s not easy, obviously. But she’s got the right people to be able to do the right things at the tournament,” he added.
“If she needs to hit, she needs to feed balls, that’s no issue, where that was my biggest issue is that I didn’t even have someone with me. Obviously the coaching thing will be sorted soon, I guess. Then hopefully it might be a bit of a longer partnership.”