Emma Raducanu To Play In Abu Dhabi Without Permanent Coach, Explains Next Steps
NewsMonday, 03 February 2025 at 02:17
Emma Raducanu will compete without a full-time coach at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Open and spoke before the tournament about her process for hiring a new coach.
Raducanu has worked with six coaches despite only turning professional a few years ago. However, she seemed to have some stability with childhood coach Nick Cavaday after spending the entire 2024 season with him.
The Briton showed positive signs at the 2025 Australian Open. Her third-round run included a victory against Amanda Ansimova, during which Raducanu demonstrated terrific defensive skills against her opponent's powerful hitting.
Raducanu's loss to Iga Swiatek in the third round was her final tournament with Cavaday. He left her team for health reasons and also wanted to spend more time with his family instead of regularly traveling.
Speaking to the National's Reem Abulleil, Raducanu said she decided not to rush into hiring a new full-time coach like in previous years and is interested in seeing how she manages the current period without a permanent presence in her box.
"It’s a decision that I want to take my time with. I think that's why I haven't necessarily jumped into something straight away, because I want to make sure it's a right fit."
"And I think this period where I don't necessarily have someone is going to tell me a lot. It's going to teach me a lot, what I want, what I don't want to look for in the next person."
"So I think I'm using this time period to just figure out what I really value. I'm not too sure yet right now. I haven't come to any plans or decisions. So yeah, I'm just taking it, using the next couple weeks to see how I feel, and then make a decision."
Raducanu confirmed she would work with Roman Kelecic, who coached her as a teenager, at the Abu Dhabi Open. The 2021 US Open champion had not seen Kelecic in years but planned to visit him before he agreed to help her in Abu Dhabi.
"He traveled with me when I was like 14,15, in the junior ITFs; we went to all the glamorous places together when we were younger in the juniors. And we haven't honestly seen each other in so many years."
"But he's based out of Dubai, and I think in this situation, I mean, I wanted to see him anyway, to catch up. So I texted him to catch up, and now he's on court with me, so he's going to help me out this week."
The 22-year-old also mentioned she has been spending more time alone with herself, which might help the WTA star to adapt to not having a permanent coach for a while.
"I think it was just about my time. I think last year it was a difficult year for me in terms of missing the second half of the year due to injury. And I think I just had a lot of time to think and reflect in that period."
"I think this year, I've gone on loads of solo walks, solo coffee dates and just have a lot of time to kind of look inside and look internally. I've been enjoying it so far, even though it's not necessarily the easiest thing to do, especially when the tour is quite a lonely place."
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