Emma Raducanu Has A ‘Very Raw’ Game That Could Be Improved, Says Former Coach Tursunov - UBITENNIS

Emma Raducanu Has A ‘Very Raw’ Game That Could Be Improved, Says Former Coach Tursunov

The Russian has set the record straight on his decision to stop working with the former US Open champion earlier this year.

By Adam Addicott
4 Min Read
Emma Raducanu reacts during a Women's Singles match at the 2021 US Open, Monday, Sep. 6, 2021 in Flushing, NY. (Darren Carroll/USTA)

Dimitry Tursunov has said his decision to stop working with Emma Raducanu was due to ‘red flags’ in her camp and had nothing to do with his recent decision to begin working with another player. 

Tursunov, who is a former top 20 player on the ATP Tour, joined forces with the Brit during the summer in what was a brief stint. It was confirmed earlier this month that the two are no longer working together, leaving Raducanu looking for her fifth coach in 16 months. During their time together, the former US Open champion had enjoyed some promising results on the Tour with a run to the semi-final of the Korean Open before being once again hampered by injury. 

The Russian coach is now working with Belinda Bencic who was one of the players Raducanu beat en route to her first major title. It has been speculated that Tursunov stopped working with Raducanu to start his collaboration with Bencic. Something he has since denied.

“No, I didn’t. It’s absolutely not true,” he said during an interview with tennismajors.com“I was walking away from Emma regardless of whether there was another [player] available or not. We didn’t agree on the terms and there were some red flags that just couldn’t be ignored. So that’s why it’s a little frustrating to read things like that… I wasn’t hopping from one player to another, I wouldn’t do that.”

No further details were given about what these red flags were that prevented Tursunov from continuing his work. 19-year-old Raducanu has gone through a series of coaches since the start of 2021. In some capacity, she has also worked with Matt James, Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Jeremy Bates, Torben Beltz and Iain Bates. 

Whilst she is yet to reach another Tour final since her triumph at the New York major 14 months ago, Tursunov has high praise for the tennis star’s game which he thinks can be significantly improved in the future.

“First of all, she’s absolutely great, she’s a hard worker and she doesn’t think or act like she’s a superstar. She is hungry to improve and is obsessed with tennis. I think it’s quite a rare combination.” He said. 
“In my opinion, she’s minimum a one-year project but I would say that she’s probably a two-and-a-half-year project to be on the safe side. Her game is very raw, and I think in many ways it could use a lot of improvement. 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. And then if it doesn’t work, you cross that off your list.” 

Raducanu is currently ranked 76th in the world and has won 17 out of 36 Tour matches played during what has been her first full season on the WTA Tour. In recent weeks she has struggled with a wrist injury but is still hoping to play in the Billie Jean King Cup which will take place in Glasgow next month. 

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