Emma Raducanu’s agent Max Eisenbud defends coaching changes as former US Open champion recovers from surgery

Emma Raducanu’s agent has defended her regular changing of coaches and says it is “probably going to be like that for the rest of her career”.

Raducanu, 20, has worked with five coaches in the last two years.

“I’m not saying it is right or wrong, but that is the way they have done it, and I think it is fine to do things differently.

“All the way up through the juniors, they never had coaches a long time, so, for them, that’s calm waters – having a coach for four to five months and then going on to someone else.

“Emma and her dad have their own philosophy. Richard Williams (father of Venus and Serena) had his own philosophy, which was different, and Yuri Sharapova (father of Maria) had his.

“We are not sitting in a sport that has a plethora of great coaches – maybe eight, nine or 10 great coaches.

“Most of the great, great coaches don’t want to travel for 35 or 40 weeks a year and leave their families, so you have a small pool that are willing to travel and charge very little money, so they keep getting recycled and recycled. That is why you see coaches hopping around.”

Raducanu worked with Nigel Sears when she made her breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2021, reaching the fourth round as a wild card.

She then had Richardson in her box for her stunning victory at the US Open. That relationship was not continued and Torben Beltz joined the team later that year but left in April 2022.

Eisenbud acknowledged the quick turnover could put off other coaches working with Raducanu.

“There are coaches who might be afraid to take the shot because they’ve seen the track record,” he said.

“I understand it is uncomfortable and doesn’t fit in the box that everyone wants, but if Emma Raducanu’s biggest issue is that she is changing coaches every couple of months, I will sign up for that.”

Raducanu is currently ranked at No. 131 in the world.