The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
City man played a huge part in Raducanu’s stunning success
Tennis - Local coach was hevaily involved in one of the great GB sports stories
A Peterborough man was able to revel in the stunning success of Great Britain’s US Open Ladies Singles champion Emma Raducanu.
Her coach Andrew Richardson was born in the city and grew up in Bourne as he set out on his own professional career which included Grand Slam and GB Davis Cup appearances.
Richardson only took over as Raducanu’s coach after her thrilling run to the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier this year.
Richardson(47) has done little coaching at main tour level, but worked with Raducanu when she was 11 at Bromley Tennis Centre.
“He’s been good at instilling the fundamentals into my game and making me realise that doing the basics to a really good level is going to take you a long way,” Raducanu said of Richardson. “He’s also a very calming character. He’s good at relaxing and reassuring me. if I get too hard on myself.”
Richardson was coached in his days as a youngster by local tennis guru John Rudd who now works at the city’s David Lloyd Centre.
Richardson reached the third round of the singles at Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open. He won five Challenger Tour men’s doubles titles, one with Tim Henman. He was best man at Henman’s wedding.
Raducanu (18) beat fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in the final to lift the prestigious US Open title and claim a whopping $2.5 million first prize.
It was an astonishing success for the Brit who became the first player to win a singles title at Flushing Meadow having come through qualifying. In total Raducanu played 10 matches and didn’t drop a single set.
She is the first British women since Virginia Wade in 1968 to win the US Open title and the first since Wade at Wimbledon in 1977 to win a Grand Slam title.
As recently as June Raducanu played in the same tournament at Rocester as Longthorpe Tennis Club star IsabelleHavard when the first prize was £250! Of course Raducanu won.