As the Italian Open has begun, all eyes and names of top tennis athletes will be on everyone’s lips, especially former US Open Champion Emma Raducanu.
The 22-year-old is looking to bounce back from her second-round exit defeat against Marta Kostyuk by 6-4 2-6 6-2 at the Madrid Open.
Raducanu has been coach-hunting for a while now with no luck at all in finding a long-term coach.
Her current coaching agreement with Mark Petchey seems to be working well, but Petchey has a significant broadcast commitment throughout the year and that leaves Raducanu searching again.
The 54-year-old, trained with her in the pandemic summer of 2020. He later joined the team in the Miami Open alongside Jane O’Donoghe, his mentor, taking Raducanu to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
Speaking to the media Emma said her goal is to find someone who can act in a support role for Petchey.
“Mark is doing his commentary work and around that he is going to help me as much as he can and hopefully, the times align that he can be there with me in the matches.
That’s why Jane is here for when he’s not able to make it to the session. While she’s not working it’s nice to have her as much as possible, but she will go back to work and then I need to figure another solution out. I just need to work on who that person is”.
Raducanu is preparing for her first-round action at the Italian Open, she will be facing 19-year-old Maya Joint.
Joint is new to the tennis scene, she is currently ranked number 78 while Emma Raducanu is ranked 49 in the world. Both players have never played against each other before.
This is Raducanu’s second career appearance at the Italian Open and first since she retired from a first-round injury in 2022 against Bianca Andreescu.
