Emma Raducanu: ‘I have been burned by people I really trusted’
Emma Raducanu admits to having been “burned” in the past by those close to her as she revealed her “circle is smaller than ever”.
Since winning the US Open in 2021, Raducanu has struggled to adapt to life on the relentless WTA tour, amid a host of injury problems. After undergoing surgery on both her wrists and ankle, Raducanu has steadily climbed up the rankings over the last 18 months to break into the world’s top 50. But her journey since the US Open triumph on the coaching side has been anything but straightforward.
Having worked with childhood coach Nick Cavaday for more than a year until chronic health issues ruled him out of the tour full time, she had a very short stint with Vladimír Pláteník before returning yet again to someone who worked with her prior to 2021, this time in Mark Petchey.
“I’m someone who keeps things to myself and it takes a lot for me to open up,” Raducanu told The Guardian on the eve of her opening match at the Italian Open in Rome. “I haven’t really opened up to many people in my life, truly, but the ones that I really trust, I do. And I think the thing is with me, once I let someone in, I let them in fully and I care for them so much, and I have been burnt a few times.
“A few people who I’ve really trusted have surprised me, but I guess that’s life, and I still have some great people around me who I really trust, and I’m working on it. I mean, part of me doesn’t like talking too much about any problems, because it makes it into a bigger problem. So I think now I’m learning to just kind of accept the day as it comes and just choose discipline over how I feel.”
Raducanu has insisted previously that her focus is entirely on tennis and she appears to be enjoying her small team of Petchey, fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura and former childhood mentor Jane O’Donoghue, who is taking a sabbatical from a career in finance.
“It’s very difficult for me to trust new people,” she says. “I find myself gravitating towards those people I’ve known before the US Open. My circle is smaller than ever. Up until I won the US Open, I was so sheltered. Up to 18, I was just with my parents. It was like nothing could touch me. And then all of a sudden everyone came and I got burned quite a lot of times, whether that’s professionally or personally. Now I’m very Fort Knox with who I let in.”
This year has not been without difficulties for Raducanu, who was subject to a frightening stalking experience while competing in Dubai that left her in tears. After that, she took a two-week break from tennis at her home in London to recharge before competing in Indian Wells, Miami – where she reached the quarter-finals – and starting her clay court season in Madrid.
Raducanu, who opens her account on Wednesday against Australian qualifier Maya Joint, is already planning her next coaching adjustment, however, with O’Donoghue set to return to work in the coming weeks.
