MIKE DICKSON: Emma Raducanu needs more consistency off the court with her coaches to be more successful in the Grand Slams … she may be young, but she can’t wait
By Mike Dickson for the Daily Mail
Posted: 22:30, 29 June 2022 | Updated: 11:57 PM, June 29, 2022
Andy Murray once predicted that a young Caroline Garcia would become number 1 in the world.
Presumably, corporations that have invested millions in Emma Raducanu’s sponsorship received similar predictions from experts about the long-term potential of the British teenager.
Murray has just come out on top of Garcia, who has reached No. 4 and has played closer to that when he eliminated Raducanu than on his current 55-man roster.
Emma Raducanu needs more consistency with her coaches to be more successful
Of course, Raducanu already has a U.S. Open title, something that is forever. There is no guarantee of whether he will eventually appear as someone who resides in the top five.
There’s a good chance you’ll do it, given the weather, but not unless you absorb the lessons that have continued to come dense and fast after Flushing Meadows.
Raducanu has since compared his experiences to a sabbatical year, albeit a more extraordinary year than some of his contemporaries at his selective Kent grammar school would have had.
What the British No. 1 should have drawn from her unique experiences is the need for stability, especially in physical training and body maintenance.
Raducanu looked unpowerful and his opponent Caroline Garcia had more variety
All the evidence was out there at the Center Court. Garcia’s first serve was 10 mph faster, and with his background shots he hit the ball with much more power.
His game also had more variety, earning 16 points out of 20 as he approached the net. Aside from the two breaks he gave up, he was excellent.
Raducanu looked unpowerful in comparison, although he may point to the lateral tension that hampered his preparations for Wimbledon.
In his ever-changing support box, only one figure of New York’s triumph remained. This was Iain Bates, the female tennis head of the Lawn Tennis Association, a trusted substitute amid the whirlwind of coaching staff.
Sitting elsewhere in the stands was his New York physiotherapist, Will Herbert, who has returned to his more general role with the governing body’s performance team. Andrew Richardson, the coach quickly dismissed from the American trip, was in Spain working on a youth tournament.
Andrew Richardson played a key role in Emma Raducanu’s success at the U.S. Open, but did not extend her training deal.
It is not immediately clear what the future involvement of Jane O’Donoghue, who has been helping Raducanu for the past few weeks, will be.
A former LTA employee, she now has a career in finance at the Royal Bank of Canada in London. But then not much is resolved around the British game prize, which can no longer rely on the clash of the new.
As Garcia, who beat him in March, commented: “When you’re young and you’re on the rise and no one knows you, you’re always positive by your side. It’s pretty tricky to find good quality match videos where you can see what they’re doing. And then, of course, everyone knows you.
Raducanu is expected to have found a more consistent path for his next tournament
Raducanu’s next tournament is the Washington Open in late July, and hopefully by then he has found a more consistent path.
Coaching requirements are an individual thing, and Raducanu clearly believes she has to sort things out on her own. In the long run this may bear fruit, but moves are being made to legalize the provision of advice from the stands.
What is non-negotiable is the acquisition of strength and endurance to withstand the rigors of the tour. A performance plan should be established, rather than a series of ad-hoc agreements.
This is expected to avoid the usual physical setbacks that had restricted him to seven competitive tennis matches in a month.
“It’s great for me to receive all of these lessons at such a young age so that when I’m twenty, I fix those problems or small mistakes in my game,” he said.
Raducanu may be young, but he can’t wait until then. If the penny falls faster, you will still have much better Grand Slam experiences than this one.