“Lendl didn’t help Zverev at all!” Wilander questions benefit of super coaches for young players

7 time slam champion Mats Wilander has drawn similarities between Alexander Zverev and Emma Raducanu in their choice of coaching support

Wilander says that young players like Emma Raducanu should be left to work things out for themselves as he drew comparison with the short and unsuccessful period where Ivan Lendl was brought in to coach Alexander Zverev. That relationship was ended after a famously tumultuous period and now Wilander is concerned the same might happen with the British star.

“We saw with Sascha Zverev – Ivan Lendl did not help Sascha Zverev at all! He was forced to try with these superstar coaches. It doesn’t work for an 18-year-old.

“They need to grow up in their own time and with Emma Raducanu, I’m sorry, but it’s not a good idea to have too many voices in her head. The only voice she needs to listen to is her own.”

Raducanu has recently appointed Torben Beltz as her new coach after quickly choosing to end her relationship with Andrew Richardson, the British coach who guided her through her stunning victory at the US Open.

Wilander was speaking on Eurosport when he commented that Emma Raducanu ‘needs to have fun’ and ‘develop on her own’ instead of being ‘shaped’ by coaches, which could prove detrimental to her development.

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