British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

christ wrote:

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It won't be long before the "Mr Richardson deserted her" canard becomes the prevalent view, though: not everyone with dodgy recall has a CD to dig up the history. The BBC has already run with "Andrew Richardson - the coach who Raducanu has rehired after he unceremoniously left following her 2021 US Open win"

... especially as National Treasure Ms Raducanu finds it "very difficult to say that she made a mistake".

From my perspective I am just sad that we didn't get to see her in her prime with Mr Richardson alongside her.

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 Err, she's still only 23 yo !

Coup Droit wrote:

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Emma fired Andy because she thought he wouldn't be the right guy to take her forward, it wasn't because he wouldn't travel

This is one of the immediate articles after she fired him, from The Guardian:

"The 18-year-old decided to dispense with the services of Andrew Richardson, despite her shock victory in New York, because she believes she needs a top-class coach to develop her game and fitness.

However, Richardson, who had first coached Raducanu between the ages of 11 and 13 and joined her team on a short-term contract after Wimbledon, had very little experience on the WTA Tour.

Explaining her decision, Radcanu said: After Wimbledon, I was ranked around 200 in the world. And, at the time I thought Andrew would be a great coach to try and I went to the States. Never did I even dream of winning the US Open and having the run I did, and now Im ranked 22 in the world which is pretty crazy to me.

Its tough to have that conversation with anyone, but I need someone whos had that professional tour experience, and has been through it, and seen players in my situation for many years, going through the same because its going to take a lot.

 

There are a lot more articles and interviews with Emma along the same line

 

And recent ones where she's asked if it was a mistake for her to fire Andy:

Speaking with the media ahead of the French Open, Raducanu was asked if it was "a mistake" to ditch Richardson five years ago.

Raducanu: It was very difficult to say I made a mistake

"I think at that time it was very difficult to say I made a mistake, because in my life everything changed upside down, and I didn't really think I had the most handle over the situation in the sense that I was being pulled left and right," the 23-year-old explained.

It's not a problem, everyone makes mistakes, or would do things differently if they had the time again, but it definitely wasn't Andy Richardson's doing 

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 Hindsight is a wonderful thing and though there were those questioning that decision 5 years ago, rightly in my opinion, it isn't possible to say what difference it would have made keeping AR as her coach.

Whilst the continuous changes in coach have been farcical there are many issues outside this part of her game.  Mainly her fitness and well being. Whatever coach she had would not, in all likelihood, have made any difference to her wrist injury for which she required minor surgery or possibly the back issues she faced.

The one area it would have made a possible difference is enjoyment. There have been times when Emma simply hasn't looked like she was enjoying playing or even wanting to be on court. That wasn't the case today, though, her coach and box really got her through the quarter final when she looked, frankly, as if she wanted to perhaps withdraw.

Her performance against Jovic was the most complete I have seen from her for quite a while. Her match fitness is still short form where it could be and I think she will have a tough choice re. Nottingham next week especially if there is a slight niggle in her left thigh.

A win tomorrow would be meaningful in so many ways for Emma.