"People were killing Emma Raducanu and then she won the US Open" - Agent Max Eisenbud defends Brit's non-traditional approach to coaching
Emma Raducanu, who is the only player in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title as a qualifier, is often criticized for frequently changing her coaches.
The youngster had her breakthrough under the tutelage of Nigel Sears at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships but split with her coach soon after. She surprised the tennis world by winning the US Open two months later.
What followed next was another coaching change, as she parted ways with Andrew Richardson less than two weeks after her victory. The 20-year-old has since worked with a number of different coaches.
Addressing the unique decisions of bouncing from one coach to another in the latest episode of The Tennis Podcast, Raducanu's agent Max Eisenbud said it is just a part of her and her father's philosophy — "calm waters".
"The coaching situation, right or wrong, and this is something that her dad and Emma Raducanu pretty much control," Eisenbud said. "All the coaching stuff that's been their philosophy. All the way up through the juniors, they never had coaches a long time. I think it's probably, for them, calm waters having a coach for four or five months and then going on to someone else."
"That is not traditional," he conitnued. "That is not the norm for most to win a Grand Slam and change your coach, but I think you see players changing coaches all the time on the tour."
Elaborating further, he remarked that fans had a hard time understanding the approach and were hence critical of Emma Raducanu dropping Nigel Sears after her Wimbledon success. Eisenbud added that in response, the youngster stunned her critics by lifting the US Open trophy months later.
"I think people just have a hard time understanding, how you can get to the fourth round of Wimbledon and how you don't keep working with Niger Stears," Eisenbud said. "All people, when she stopped working with Nigel, were killing her and then she won the US Open."
"Then she changes coaches again, now Andrew Richardson is a great guy and a very good coach and he was definitely part of that success," he continued. "But so is Tim Henman, who helped her and quite frankly, her dad was the one that was putting in a lot of the game plans for the matches."
"For the family, that's just the way" - Emma Raducanu's agent on frequent coaching changes
Max Eisenbud stated that Emma Raducanu's camp's approach to her tennis and coaching situation may not be to everyone's liking, but there were certain things that the youngster's family liked to do their own way.
"It doesn't look great to the people who want everything to be wrapped up in a perfect bow. I understand that," Eisenbud said. "But for the family, that's just the way. They've always done it."
Raducanu's agent went on to add that she may go through several other coaching changes over the course of her career and that's just something that her fans may need to get used to.
He reiterated that he did not stand in judgment of whether the approach was right or wrong, but that it just worked for the World No. 131 and those around her.
"I'll just need to get over the fact that that's what she's gonna do," he continued. "It's probably gonna be like after the rest of her career. Right? I think so. But if that's what's comfortable for them, I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but that is how they've done it and it's worked for them."