Emma Raducanu has shed light on her current partnership with coach Nick Cavaday, whom she appointed before this year's Australian Open.
Raducanu has come under intense criticism for chopping and changing coaches in her young career, with Brish tennis legend Ann Jones calling the 21-year-old's sacking of Andrew Richardson (the Grand Slam-winning coach at the 2021 US Open) the "most ridiculous thing" she heard.
Several pundits have weighed in on this discourse, with French coach Patrick Mouratoglou advising the youngster to find stability within her coaching team in order to become productive on the tennis court.
Since she broke through three years ago, at least five coaches have walked in and out of Raducanu's inner circle, most recently being Sebastian Sachs, who split with the Briton after just six months at the helm.
The former World No. 10 has now gone back to her childhood mentor, Nick Cavaday, ending her long pursuit of a permanent coach. She had spent the second half of last season recovering from triple surgery - on both wrists and her ankle.
Raducanu appeared as a guest on Sky Sports' new dedicated tennis channel on the eve of the Qatar Open, where she has been granted a wild card. The former US Open winner explained that Cavaday, whom she has known since the age of 10, has already stamped his authority in training.
"When you start working with a new coach, they implement new things. You want to give yourself time to do that, but on the tour, there is no time. So straight after Australia, I went back to London, took two days off to rest and then training right away."
"That’s one thing I’m doing better. After a tournament, if I’ve lost, I (don’t need to) take four or five days off because I’m too upset or I have a niggle. It’s just straight back to it. Just consistent work and I’m improving little by little."
The Briton has been playing a lot better than her current ranking of World No. 262, although the road leading to the upper echelons of the sport is expected to be long, arduous, and bumpy. So far, Raducanu is delighted with the progress she is making, even though it's only been a month.
"I made some tweaks after Australia, right before Abu Dhabi. Seeing them in the first round match was really positive. We worked really hard and to see it all come through, I was really encouraged by that. I’m slowly getting there. You learn something and then unlearn it. Over time, you learn more."
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