Emma Raducanu: US Open champions says she will have coach in place for Australian Open
Emma Raducanu is still searching for a full-time coach and says she is in a "very good position" to have someone in place for the Australian Open in January; the British No 1 said: "I'm really feeling positive about my coaching situation, it's in a good place"
Monday 8 November 2021 06:43, UK
Emma Raducanu says she is in a "very good position" in her search for a full-time coach and hopes to have someone in place ahead of the Australian Open.
Raducanu had a trial with highly-regarded coach Esteban Carril last month and he had appeared the front-runner for the position, but the Spaniard is now set to join Andy Murray's team.
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Raducanu is preparing for her final tournament of the season, the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, where she is the top seed.
Having arrived in Austria on Saturday, it appears she has made significant progress in appointing a successor to Andrew Richardson.
The 18-year-old from Kent said: "I'm here on my own, I'm being my own coach again this week, which I think is really good for me long-term. I'm really feeling positive about my coaching situation, it's in a good place. I'll have a coach in place at the Australian Open.
"I had some trials and they went well. I'm really excited to get some good work done in pre-season and we're going to have a really good time for sure. I think my game's going to be moving in the right direction so I'm pretty excited
for that."
Raducanu declined to reveal more information on the identity of her preferred candidate, but said: "I'm in a very good position. It's just a bit confidential. It's my decision. It's not fully done."
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Raducanu cited LTA physio Will Herbert as a key presence in her team in New York, and he was also with her in Romania last week, but the teenager said she had not yet thought about potentially having a full-time physio or fitness trainer.
"I don't have a full-time team at all," she said. "I think a coach for me is the priority. It's so new to me to be in this position where I potentially could. I think it's a great privilege but I haven't put anything in place at all."
Raducanu will play her first match at the TipsArena in Linz on Tuesday against either Kateryna Kozlova of the Ukraine or Wang Xinyu of China.
Raducanu: Training priority over off-court commitments
Raducanu said she will not let her off-court commitments get in the way of training as she looks to return to the kind of form that earned her a maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open.
"I made it very, very clear to every single person in my team that I was not going to cancel one training session or practice session for any off-court commitments," said Raducanu.
"That was a non-negotiable for me. I wanted to make sure that that is my priority and it is. So everyone is clear about that.
"But it's just managing my time with the commitments around that. Even if it's not off-court events or whatever, I'm still doing my WTA rookie hours for example," she told reporters.
The WTA "rookie hours" is an orientation program for young players to help them understand different aspects of the sport as well as their responsibilities.
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