Emma Raducanu parts ways with coach Francisco Roig
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, reports BritPanorama.
The 23-year-old hired Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach, last summer but stated she plans to “re-evaluate” her game after suffering 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.
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.”
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.”
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. 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.”
Jamie Murray commented on Raducanu’s performance after the match: “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.”
As Raducanu embarks on another chapter in her career, it serves as a reminder that the pursuit of excellence often comes with recalibration and redefinition, a journey that continues to fascinate fans worldwide.
