John McEnroe believes Emma Raducanu is “overwhelmed” by the pressure of winning the 2021 US Open and has criticised her “revolving door” coaching policy.
Raducanu took an early second round exit from the French Open on Wednesday as she lost to Aliaksandra Sasnovich 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. The British star has had hit and miss form since winning her first grand slam trophy last September and American McEnroe says that is down to public expectation that she should keep winning.
McEnroe told Eurosport: ‘We have got to keep a little perspective here. At Wimbledon last year she was unable to finish a match because of stress and it got to be too much for her.
“Then she came out and did something that no one has ever done – man or woman – in 150 years of tennis, coming from the qualifying and winning.
“All of a sudden, there is this pressure on her, this expectation, that has gotten a little bit overwhelming as well.”
After the US Open Raducanu split from coach Andrew Richardson and she had a spell without a coach. She then hired Torben Beltz but their working relationship has since ended and her short lived time with coaches is another cause for concern for McEnroe.
He added: “If I won the US Open having gone through qualifying, I wouldn’t change my coach at least for the next year, so I don’t understand that move.
“Obviously her parents are involved and they know more than I know. But this idea of a revolving door of coaches I just don’t think that’s good for any player, much less so for a player at this stage of her career. We have to wait and see and hopefully she finds someone she can stick with for a while.”
Ricardo Piatti is rumoured to be Raducanu’s next coach after recently working with Jannik Sinner.
