Emma Raducanu has confirmed she has split from coach Francisco Roig following her second-round exit at the Australian Open after she gave a cryptic interview, appearing to take a swipe at him.
The 23-year-old hired Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach, last summer, but said she was planning to “re-evaluate" her game after a disappointing 7-6 (3) 6-2 defeat to Anastasia Potapova in Melbourne.
It appears the Spaniard is no longer part of the 2021 US Open champion’s plans and is the latest in a long line of coaches with whom Raducanu has parted ways.
She paid tribute to their concluded partnership in a post to her Instagram Stories.
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Raducanu wrote: "Thank you for our time together. You have been more than a coach to me and I will cherish the many good times we spent together on and off the court. While we have come to the conclusion together that we ought not to move forward, please know that I am very grateful for all you have taught me and fond of our time shared."
Asked about her plans following the Australian Open, she said: "I think I’m going to take a few days, get back home and try and just re-evaluate my game a bit.
"Watch it back, see where I can improve. What I have been feeling and also what is visually apparent. I definitely want to feel better on certain shots before I start playing again.
"I want to be playing a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I’m playing right now and how I want to be playing is something that I just want to work on."
Emma Raducanu has confirmed she has split from coach Francisco Roig
|GETTY
She added: "At the end of the day, I just want to hit the ball to the corners and hard. I feel like I’m doing all this variety, and it’s not doing what I want it to do. I need to just work on playing in a way more similar to how I was playing when I was younger."
"I always changed direction, took the ball early, and went for it."
"I think I do have the ability to do many things on the court, but I feel like as I'm learning all those skills, I need to stick to my guns a bit as well and work on that. For me, it’s pretty simple."
Raducanu is next scheduled to play in her father’s home country of Romania at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca beginning on February 1.
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Emma Raducanu hired Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach, last summer
|GETTY
Reflecting on her defeat to Potapova, she said: "I don’t want to give myself too much of a hard time because I know my preparation going into this tournament.
"I kind of have to leave with my head held high because of the matches I’ve had here. I didn’t even know at the beginning if I would be coming to Australia, so it’s a positive in that sense.
"I don’t regret the decision, because I got to come and play a slam here. Even if I wasn’t very ready, I think I had a good three weeks Down Under on and off the court.
“I just need to take it for what it is, be pragmatic, and go back and keep working. The season is still quite long so, hopefully, if I stay healthy, do the right things, then it will start falling into place.”
He is the latest in a long line of coaches with whom Raducanu has parted ways
|REUTERS
Jamie Murray told TNT after the game: "She obviously won some matches, but she had issues getting here late, a late arrival and how much that affected her preparation, she talked about that.
"She won a match and she lost a match. It is nothing special and it wasn’t a great performance and I think her coach came under a lot of scrutiny after that. Who knows, maybe we will see a new coach in the players’ box in the near future."
Asked if Raducanu looked lost, Murray replied: "I mean it sounded like it from her quotes. I have no idea what her relationship is with Francisco Roig or what they are working on or how he sees her game style.
"She seems to see it in a different way, so ultimately it is the player who should be deciding how they should play."
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