Emma Raducanu will defend her title in New York next month
Going Russian: UK star Emma Raducanu. © Steven Paston / PA Images via Getty Images
British women’s tennis number one Emma Raducanu is planning the defense of her US Open crown with a Russian coach after reportedly hiring the services of Dmitry Tursunov.
The teen sensation will start working with ex-Davis Cup star Tursunov next week in Washington DC at the Citi Open, according to the Daily Mail.
And if all goes well, Tursunov will be by her side when she heads to Flushing Meadows to defend her women’s singles title at the US Open and for the duration of her 2022 tour on American soil.
Raducanu hasn’t had a full-time mentor since she parted ways with Torben Beltz in April and has burned through coaches such as Louis Cayer, Iain Bates, and Jane O’Donoghue in recent times which is something that Tursunov has remarked upon before.
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“There is such a term ‘coaching carousel’ when coaches go in a circle,” he said to Metaratings in November.
“Now Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open, is laying off the people she worked with.
“Naturally, everyone is shocked. If someone from her team called me now and asked if I wanted to train her, I would tremble with fear, because you don’t know when you will be fired,” Tursunov added.
Raducanu’s constant hiring and firing has been a consequence of her inability to build on her success at the US Open, where she sensationally won the competition after emerging through qualifying and didn’t drop a set on her way to the trophy.
Being blighted by injuries also hasn’t helped, and suffering a string of embarrassing early exits from big tournaments has seen her accused of prioritizing sponsorship deals over on-court performances by swathes of the British public.
A former world number 20 who handed Brit Tim Henman his last Grand Slam defeat in 2007, Tursunov is charged with getting Raducanu back on track and last worked with Anett Kontaveit.
Steering the Estonian into the WTA top five, he parted ways with her before the French Open this year and his other ex-clients include Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka, world doubles number one Elena Vesnina, and compatriot Aslan Karatsev.
Tursunov is known for his no-nonsense coaching style, but also for being a bit of a practical joker who once hid the legendary Roger Federer’s racket bag ahead of a match.
“Sometimes I enjoy acting like an idiot, but I really know what I’m talking about and I’m passionate about it,” the Moscow native claimed in a tennis.com interview last year.
On a more serious note, however, he explained his method of working in the same chat and said: “You need to have the other person agree with the process, and you have to find better ways of communicating and getting your point across.
“And, of course, players are quite sensitive – they’re one of the best in their fields. It’s about showing them they have room to improve,” he added.
Though Tursunov moved to the US when he was 12, it is not clear whether he will encounter problems leading Raducanu to Flushing Meadows.
Above all, there is no ban on Russians at the US Open – which means that men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev, like Raducanu, will also try to retain the title he won there last year.
And while the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) did opt for a ban on Russians as a response to the military operation in Ukraine, which saw it then stripped of ranking points by the ATP and WTA, this applied only to players and not other figures such as coaches.
That being said, Kontaveit claimed she had to part ways with Tursunov partly due to problems with his Russian passport which meant he couldn’t coach her at Indian Wells in the spring.
“The reason [for the separation] is that, since he has a Russian passport, it is very difficult for him to get visas at the moment, meaning he can’t accompany me to many tournaments,” Kontaveit told Estonian outlet ERR.
“I still feel I need a coach who can accompany me and who does not have so many practical issues.
“There was a lack of such security, given the situation. He could not come to America with me in March, and now he had a visa problem in relation to England. The visa process was very complicated for him,” Kontaveit went on.
Following a shocking second round exit to France’s Caroline Garcia at Wimbledon this summer, Raducanu has been keeping a low profile with the Daily Mail understanding that she flew out to Florida’s IMG Academy earlier in July.
There she has been working on the physical side of her game, and Raducanu can now look forward to playing in Washington next week and then in the Canadian Open and in Cincinnati before landing in the Big Apple to play the US Open if she stays injury-free.
At Flushing Meadows, she will defend not just her title but also 2,040 ranking points adding extra pressure to one of the most scrutinized athletes in British sport.
