Greg Rusedski acknowledges Emma Raducanu was unprepared for “a challenging situation” that came following her US Open win, but the 1997 US Open champion also thinks the Briton made “a mistake” by frequently changing her coaches at the time.

During her breakout summer in 2022, Raducanu worked with Andrew Richardson and reached the Wimbledon round-of-16 as a wildcard before becoming the first Grand Slam champion as a qualifier at the US Open. Shortly after writing tennis history, then the 18-year-old made a shock decision when she fired Richardson.

In the next 14 months, Raducanu appointed three different coaches – Torben Beltz (November 2021 – April 2022), Dmitry Tursunov (July 2022 – October 2022) and Sebastian Sachs (December 2022 – June 2023). 

After undergoing three surgeries and returning to action at the start of 2024, Raducanu spent a full year with coach Nick Cavaday, before their split that came after this year’s Australian Open. The current world No. 29 then worked with Mark Petchey until the end of the grass season, after which she hired Rafael Nadal’s former long-time coach Francisco Roig.

Rusedski: Going from zero to superstar was a challenge… But the mistake she made was the coaching situation

“She went from zero to superstar too quickly and that was a challenge. Raducanu did the hardest thing in tennis first. She won a Grand Slam. That can never be taken away from her. Then you get astronomical fame and sponsorship that anybody in their right mind would have taken, but the mistake she made was the coaching situation. So many changes didn’t help her,” former world No. 4 Rusedski told Tennis365.

“I know this has been said before, but you need consistency in your coach and where you are going. She didn’t have that. The reason she is back in the top 30 now is that she has had some consistency with her coaches in recent months, starting with Mark Petchey coming into her team back in March and then with Francisco Roig coming on board, who has worked with Rafael Nadal. She needs that consistency with her coaching now.”

Truth be told, Raducanu showed instant signs of improvement after adding Roig to her team. When she hired the Spanish coach, the 23-year-old noted that her goal was to improve to the point where she could legitimately challenge and beat the top players.

Recently, Raducanu confirmed that she was pretty happy with Roig’s work and that he would be a part of her team for the 2025 season.