Raducanu splits with coach

BRITAIN’S US Open champion Emma Raducanu said yesterday she was seeking a new coach after announcing she would no longer be working with former Davis Cup player Andrew Richardson.

The 18-year-old stunned the sporting world when she won the title as a qualifier without dropping a set becoming the first British woman to win a Grand Slam for 44 years.

Speaking after a ‘homecoming’ event yesterday at which she met tennis fan the Duchess of Cambridge, Raducanu said she now wanted to target more success on the WTA Tour.

“Obviously having such an experience with your team, it’s tough to have that conversation with anyone,” Raducanu said. “But I need someone who’s had that professional tour experience.

“I think for me it’s just really what I need. And especially right now because I'm so new to it, I really need someone to guide me who's already been through that.”

Raducanu has become the hottest property in women’s sport since her remarkable run in New York which culminated in her dazzling win over fellow teenager Leylah Fernandez of Canada and won’t be short of high-calibre coaches wanting to work with her.

“I feel like at this stage in my career, and playing the top players in the world, I realised I really need someone right now that has had that WTA Tour experience at the high levels, which means that I’m looking for someone who has been at that level and knows what it takes,” she said.

Richardson, 47, first worked with Raducanu when she was a 10-year-old at the Bromley Tennis Centre.

Raducanu will now decide on what tournaments she will contest for the rest of a whirlwind season with the Indian Wells event a possible option.

“I’ll decide in the next few days where I'm going to go to but wherever I play next I’m going to make sure I'm ready. I don’t want to jump into things too early,” she said.