John McEnroe believes Emma Raducanu's coaching situation remains an 'ongoing issue' for the tennis star after her early exit from the French Open on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old won just three games as she crashed to defeat against defending champion Iga Swiatek, who advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at the Philippe-Chatrier.
Raducanu has recently started working with Mark Petchey again, with that partnership seeing the Briton jump up to 37th in the live WTA rankings.
Petchey also works as a broadcaster, however, meaning he's not always in Raducanu's corner during matches.
Emma Raducanu won just one match at the French Open this year
REUTERS
McEnroe, per Tennis 365, believes Raducanu sometimes suffers as a result - and has expressed a belief that the 22-year-old searching for the right team around her remains an 'ongoing issue'.
“I see that she’s still in and out to some extent with injuries. Finding the right team seems to be an ongoing issue," he said.
“I don’t know why, I haven’t spoken to her. I’ve met her a couple of times in my entire life.
"I certainly wish her the best. Anyone that’s won a Slam, you want to see them continue to compete at a high level.
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John McEnroe believes Emma Raducanu's coaching situation remains an 'ongoing issue' for the tennis star after her early exit from the French Open on Wednesday
GETTY“It boils down to sort of getting, to me, the right situation around you so that you can be eager to get yourself as healthy and fit as possible, so that you can then go compete at the level you want to consistently.
"That’s the key. I don’t know where she’s at there.”
Raducanu has produced some fine performances in recent times.
She has amassed a 10-5 record across her last five tournaments, having reached the quarter-finals and last 16 of the Miami Open and Italian Open respectively.
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Jim Courier, who is also working as a pundit for TNT Sports at the French Open, insists slow and steady is the way forward for the 2021 US Open champion.
“It’s a rebuilding year for her, she’s been working on rebuilding her body, now she’s working on rebuilding her confidence," he said.
“And some of that comes down to also once you get that confidence you get a little bit more aura and you bring some swagger back to the court and that affects how your opponents view playing you as well.
“So, this is going to be a very interesting rest of the year for her. I wish her the best. I hear she’s a wonderful person."
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Petchey, meanwhile, insists that tennis has changed since Raducanu won the US Open nearly four years ago - which is why she's struggled to scale the same heights in the time since.
He said: "The games have changed massively, the balls are four times heavier than back in 2021 and Emma isn't the biggest hitter out there.
"If you can't put the ball through the court on a windy, heavy clay court day against someone like Iga, you're going to get in all sorts of trouble.
"If anyone has watched Iga's losses over the clay court season, the players that have beaten her have played absolutely lights-out tennis.
Iga Swiatek was in dominative form as she put Emma Raducanu to the sword on Wednesday
Reuters"Although everyone's saying Iga's form is bad, I didn't actually think that, and she proved it yesterday.
"On hard courts and grass is a lot closer compared to where Emma was in Australia (where she lost to Swiatek 6-1, 6-0) but against Iga and Coco (Gauff), she knows what she has to do and it will take a long time.
"My mantra to her has been: 'You are starting your career now. Everyone is judging you on what happened in 2021, but the reality is, I want to see you building a career here where people judge you in two years.'"
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