After months of uncertainty and many changes, Emma Raducanu has finally settled on Nick Cavaday as her coach, also thanks to her experience with him in the past.
No player has created as many coaching headlines in the past two years as Raducanu, who seemingly changed coaches every now and then. Over the past two years, she tried a few notable names in the coaching industry, but she never really gelled with anybody long-term.
Despite working with some coaches, such as Dmitry Tursunov and Torben Beltz, the Brit never settled. After months of searching, she settled on her former coach, Nick Cavaday, and so far, it's been going well for her.
Under him, Raducanu has performed solidly, and after starting her 2024 Korea Open campaign with a win, she spoke about the relationship.
There is clearly something about her familiarity with Cavaday that is working out well for her, compared to the other coaches with whom she wasn't that familiar and certainly didn't stay long enough to build that relationship over a prolonged period.
She hinted at that in her response as well, admitting that Cavaday was a friend first, which seems to make her comfortable when it comes to a coach-player relationship.
"The relationship with the coach is very good. It's really good to be together. Nick is a competent coach but, more importantly, he is a very good person."
"I think being with a friend I've known for a long time in a familiar environment is the best environment for me right now, and I value the time with him."
The Korea Open is a hugely important tournament for Raducanu because it's a WTA 500 event, so it's a chance for her to possibly earn lots of points, which she needs to avoid playing qualifiers in the future.
She was slated to play the qualifiers in Seoul due to how strong the draw was, but after a few players pulled out, she got into the main draw.
Avoiding that in the future will be important for her, and due to the depleted draw, this is a good chance for her to gather some points. Raducanu could also technically challenge for the trophy if she finds a good form.
She looked great in her opening round, and now that she can finally focus solely on tennis, she might be poised for a breakout. Last year was marred with injury problems for the Brit, and even before that, Raducanu never had that stability that is so important in tennis.
These days, it finally seems like she’s figured everything out and is playing well. Her next match is against Yuan Yue, who will be tricky to beat, but if she wins that match, she’ll be in the quarter-finals, and from there, it’s only two more matches until a potential final.
At the moment, but there are plenty of reasons to be bullish about her future. Having the coaching position nailed down is certainly one of those.
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