As Emma Raducanu has broken new ground at the Miami Open, she has done so thanks to the help of a couple of old faces.
The 22-year-old arrived in Florida for the second leg of the ‘Sunshine Double’ and made headlines as a result of the latest turn of her coaching carousel. Her opening victory over Sayaka Ishii in Miami was somewhat overshadowed by the revelation that her coaching trial with Vladimir Platenik had been brought to an end after two weeks, following her first-round exit from Indian Wells.
A statement explained that Raducanu felt her partnership with Platenik “wasn't quite heading in the right direction” and so, on the eve of the Miami Open, a decision was made that it would not continue. If Raducanu wasn’t convinced, she did not want to waste any time on a coach that did not work for her.
It was a brave and bold call, especially given the optics. After Raducanu had found some stability under childhood coach Nick Cavaday, who stepped down after the Australian Open due to health issues, the Briton risked returning to the hire-and-fire approach that followed her US Open victory in 2021, as she looks for a permanent presence in her box alongside fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura.
In Miami, however, Raducanu has found a short-term solution which she feels is bringing the best out of her on and off the court. Jane O’Donoghue, Raducanu’s childhood mentor and former LTA coach, has returned to her corner, joined by Mark Petchey, a former coach of Andy Murray and now a well-known commentator and broadcaster on the Tennis Channel. Both have stepped in to help Raducanu during the Miami Open.
“This week I have some really good people around me who I trust and who I have fun with off the court as well, and that is extremely important,” Raducanu told Sky Sports. following her win over Amanda Anisimova in the last-16. “When I play my best I am definitely authentic, true to myself and creative. I feel when I am boxed into a regimented way then I am not able to express myself in the same way.”
Those comments could be seen as a criticism of Platenik as much of praise for O’Donoghue and Petchey, but her current environment is clearly working. Raducanu’s progress to the quarter-finals is her best run at a tournament since her US Open triumph in 2021, winning four matches in a row for the first time since that unlikely victory in New York, and it is the first time she has reached the last-eight of a WTA 1000 event.
Petchey had a wide grin as Raducanu defeated Anisimov 6-1 6-3 to book her quarter-final place. A former Davis Cup player for Great Britain, he was involved in Raducanu’s development as a teenager in the years before her US Open victory. He is balancing his work with Raducanu in Miami, which include on-court hitting during practice days, alongside his broadcasting commitments.
Interestingly, Petchey’s work in the media means his thoughts on Raducanu’s game and ideas for where she could improve and there for all to see. In January, following her third-round trashing at the hands of Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open, Petchey was quoted saying Raducanu’s forehand and backhand had not developed since 2021, urging her to recreate it. Perhaps a backwards step has led to forward progress.
O’Donoghue, meanwhile, has a career in banking after spending 10 years with the LTA as women’s national coach. A former player, O’Donoghue stepped in to help Raducanu ahead of Wimbledon in 2022 and at points last year when Cavaday was ill. O’Donoghue had previously flown out to Doha to support Raducanu in February.
Neither are long-term solutions as Raducanu looks for the right fit as coach, but her comments to Sky Sports and form in Miami clearly indicate the sort of bubble that the 22-year-old would like to create.
