Emma Raducanu has split with her coach, Torben Beltz, after working together for only five months. Citing the need to begin a “new training model”, Raducanu will once again play without a coach.
“I want to thank Torben for his coaching, professionalism and dedication over the last half a year,” said Raducanu in a statement. “He has a huge heart and I have enjoyed our strong chemistry during the time together.”
Raducanu is competing at the Madrid Open this week, where she has been drawn against Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic in Thursday’s opening round. She is accompanied in Spain by Iain Bates, the LTA’s head of women’s tennis. “I feel the best direction for my development is to transition to a new training model with the LTA supporting in the interim,” she said.
The split means Raducanu will search for a fourth coach in the past year, an unusually fast turnover even in tennis’s volatile coaching carousel. Such short-term coaching partnerships have been a common theme of Raducanu’s unconventional young career, with Raducanu and her father, Ian, already developing a reputation for garnering information from coaches then swiftly moving on to the next one.
Raducanu had worked with the prominent British coach Nigel Sears before hiring Andrew Richardson to support her on her first prolonged trip abroad in the United States last summer that ended with her shock US Open triumph. Following her decision not to continue working with Richardson, Raducanu hired Beltz, a German coach who moulded Angelique Kerber into a No 1 player from her teenage years, citing the need to work with a more experienced coach who could help guide her in her unexpected jump up to the tour.
However, his experience appears to have had limited effect on her in their short time together. Raducanu’s season so far has instead been defined by the difficulties of immediately following up such a life-changing victory in New York and her inexperience that has been reflected in her performances and the various injuries she has picked up as her body grows accustomed to life in professional tennis. She compiled a 5-7 record with Beltz this season.
The past few weeks had taken a positive turn, with Raducanu following up her first win on clay and her Billie Jean King Cup debut in Prague by reaching the quarter-final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
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A possible candidate for her next coach would be Ricardo Piatti, the Italian who only recently split with Jannik Sinner. Raducanu prepared for the clay-court season by training for a few days at Piatti’s academy in Italy but said she was using their facilities simply to prepare for the clay while Beltz was on holiday.
Meanwhile Roger Federer has confirmed his entry for the Basel ATP 500 tournament in October, his home event, as he looks to return from a third knee surgery over the past two years. Rafael Nadal will return to action when the men take their turn at the Madrid Open next week after suffering from a fractured rib last month. Finally Great Britain have been drawn against the United States, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands in September’s Davis Cup group stage, with the games taking place in Glasgow.
