“I’d like to thank Nick for a great partnership over the last year and a bit, especially post-surgeries,” Emma Raducanu shared her thoughts after parting ways with her sixth coach Nick Cavaday this January. Since then, the Brit has competed in the Singapore Tennis Open and the Qatar Open, but unfortunately, she suffered first-round exits in both tournaments.

And, as the search for a new mentor continues, the former world No. 1 and former coach of Serena Williams coach recently weighed in, revealing what key changes she would implement if she were to guide Emma through her coaching drought.

Since Emma’s US Open triumph in 2021, she has struggled to regain her dominance on center court. Why? Well, one reason could be the frequent coaching changes that have marked her relatively young career. Who could forget April 2022, when she split with Torben Beltz, marking her third coaching change in nine months? And he wasn’t the only one. Her coaching carousel includes Nigel Sears, who guided her breakthrough at Wimbledon 2021, as well as Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs. 

However, despite all these names, one of her greatest mentors was Andrew Richardson, the mentor, who helped her defy the odds and claim the 2021 US Open title at just 18 years old, a feat the Brit achieved as a 150th-ranked qualifier.

In a recent turn of events, former coach and former doubles No. 1 Rennae Stubbs shared her opinion about coaching Emma. She shared possible changes she would love before asking herself. 

In a recent episode of “The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast” the former number 1 added, “I would consider it (coaching Raducanu), of course. I would never say no to an opportunity of working with a Grand Slam champion. What would I work on? The first thing I would do is sit her down and ask her what she wants. I think that’s the key.”

A coach must understand the player’s skillset before getting into coaching. It makes a lot of difference to train the player and make him or her successful in the future. Stubbs stated, “You have to know what your player wants. I think they all come in and think I am going to tweak this or that. I would sit her down and say, ‘Let’s be honest here, what do you want? How do you want to approach this?’ And then we go from there,” she added. 

Not only that, as she also continued, “It’s a bit of a sit-down, come to Jesus moment and be honest with her about where I feel like her top level is and how she can get there and not be like, ‘we can win another Slam tomorrow’. Because it’s unlikely at this point. So what are her goals realistically and what can we do to get there?”

But why does Stubbs prefer to ask Emma Raducanu on what she wants rather than immediately altering her playing style, though? Well, that might have a lot to do with her recent form at the tours.

Emma Raducanu faces four straight losses first time in her career

Not the start she was hoping for from the beginning of a new season! Former No. 10 seed Raducanu has just faced something unprecedented in her career so far: four straight losses in a row. The rough patch began at the Happy Slam, setting the tone for what became a challenging run since then.

The British No. 1 had a strong start at the Melbourn Major though, securing straight-set wins over Ekaterina Alexandrova and Amanda Anisimova in first and second-round matches. But then came a brutal reality check! A third-round clash against No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek. And it wasn’t pretty at all. Emma suffered a crushing 6-1, 6-0 defeat, marking one of the toughest losses of her career till now.

“Three weeks ago, when I was in Auckland, at the end of last year, I was doing pool rehab. To be on a court playing matches and competing is something I have to be grateful for. I started hitting when I came here 18 days ago. I have to take a positive that I was able to beat two top opponents in the first two rounds,” Raducanu stated. “But today, no excuses of the back or physically. I didn’t play well. She played very well. Given the preparation we had, we have to be grateful to be in this position.”

She even added after being defeated by Iga. And, just when she parted ways with her coach Nick after the AO, she faced another set of turmoil.

Since her AO departure, her struggles have continued till now. Emma crashed out in the first round at the Singapore Open, Abu Dhabi Open, and Qatar Open, respectively. Notably, her wildcard entries in Abu Dhabi and Qatar Open sparked a backlash from fans, and now, reports suggest she’s set for a third wildcard entry in the Gulf Tour, at the Dubai Masters next week.

With her form dipping continuously and pressure mounting, can Emma Raducanu turn things around in Dubai and finally go deep in a tournament? What do you think? Is a comeback on the horizon?