In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, tennis coach Dmitry Tursunov has opened up about his time coaching Emma Raducanu, heaping praise on the young player's work ethic and demeanour.
Tursunov coached the 2021 US Open champion for two months earlier this year, a stretch that included her North American hard-court swing.
It was a period that was viewed as being relatively positive and successful for the 20 year-old, as she defeated two WTA stalwarts, Serene Williams and Victoria Azarenka, both in dominant straight sets victories on route to the third round of Cincinnati.
"Honestly, I did not see or feel that there were lots of outside things going on. From the time that we started, Emma just really had her nose to the ground. She was very hard working and did not see her skip a lot of things. There was no aura of diva or superstar about her and I think she has been managing that part very well. I was super impressed with her and couldn’t be happier with the way she is as a professional athlete," Tursunov said.
However, Raducanu crashed out of the US Open in the first round of her title defence. Soon after, the coaching arrangement with Tursunov also collapsed due to a failure to agree on terms, despite Emma reportedly being happy with how things were going.
"I have never won a Slam so I don’t know what it’s like to defend a Grand Slam. So I think she has done quite well in that sense. Honestly, the expectations of her repeating it were extremely unrealistic and anyone who understands anything about tennis would agree to that. It's not because she doesn't have the abilities. She has the ability but the game needs to be just improved to have that consistency to play at the high level," Tursunov said.
Tursunov is now working with World No. 12, Belinda Bencic, while Raducanu's search for a new coach continues through the off-season.
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