Emma Raducanu has rehired Andrew Richardson, the coach who guided her to the 2021 US Open title, in a reunion the 23-year-old hopes can restore the clarity that defined the most remarkable fortnight of her career. The British number one confirmed the appointment on Thursday, ending an 18-month stretch in which she has cycled through five different coaches since lifting the trophy at Flushing Meadows as a qualifier ranked 150th in the world.
Richardson, who worked with Raducanu during her junior years at the Bromley Tennis Centre and was reappointed for the 2021 US hard-court swing, will travel with her from the grass-court season through to the autumn. Speaking at a pre-Roland Garros media day in Paris, Raducanu was asked directly whether parting with Richardson days after her New York triumph had been a mistake. “It’s very difficult to say,” she replied. “At the time, with the information I had, it felt right. Looking back now, with everything I’ve learned, I can see why people ask the question.”
The case for going back
Raducanu’s coaching carousel has become one of the defining storylines of her senior career. Since splitting with Richardson in September 2021, she has worked with Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov, Sebastian Sachs, Nick Cavaday and, most recently, Vladimir Platenik for a fortnight in Miami. Cavaday, a long-time figure in her development, stepped back in January 2026 citing health reasons, leaving her without a permanent voice in the box for much of the clay swing.
The numbers underline the cost of that instability. Raducanu is currently ranked 67th, having peaked at 10 in July 2022. She has reached one WTA final since New York — Auckland in January 2024 — and has not progressed beyond the third round of a Grand Slam since her title run. Two wrist operations and an ankle procedure in 2023 cost her eight months of the calendar, but the rebuilding process has been complicated by the absence of a consistent technical reference point.
Richardson offers continuity of language. He coached Raducanu through her formative years on the LTA pathway and understands the flat, early-strike baseline game that overwhelmed Belinda Bencic, Maria Sakkari and Leylah Fernandez during the 2021 US Open. “There’s a trust there, and a connection that you don’t build overnight,” Raducanu said. “Andrew knows my game from the inside out. He doesn’t need three months to learn what I’m trying to do.”
What changed in the room
The split in 2021 was driven by a perception, encouraged by elements of her then-management team, that Raducanu required a coach with more experience on the senior tour. Richardson, who had been working primarily in junior development, was deemed insufficiently credentialled for the demands of a Grand Slam champion. The decision was widely criticised at the time by figures including Tim Henman and Martina Navratilova, both of whom argued that stability mattered more than CV depth for a teenager adjusting to sudden fame.
Raducanu, now operating without the IMG representation that shaped many of her early commercial and coaching decisions, has taken a more central role in selecting her team. She conducted the Richardson discussions herself over a two-week period in April and signed off the arrangement without external input.
- Five coaches between September 2021 and March 2026
- Current ranking: 67 (career-high: 10)
- Grand Slam matches won since 2021 US Open: 11
- Tournaments entered in 2026: seven, with a 9-7 win-loss record
The road from Paris
Richardson will not be in Raducanu’s box at Roland Garros, where she opens against American qualifier Iva Jovic on Monday. The pair will begin formal work at Eastbourne in mid-June before a full grass-court block built around Wimbledon, where Raducanu reached the fourth round as an 18-year-old wildcard in 2021 and has not won a main-draw match since.
The wider context is a season in which British tennis has lost its other senior anchor: Andy Murray’s retirement at the Paris Olympics left Raducanu and Jack Draper carrying the bulk of LTA attention. Draper’s rise to the top 10 has shifted some pressure, but Raducanu remains the only British woman to have won a Grand Slam in the Open era, and the only one inside the world’s top 100.
Whether Richardson can rebuild what was lost in the months after Flushing Meadows is the question that will define her summer. Raducanu, for her part, is framing the decision as an attempt to reset rather than rewind. “I’m not trying to recreate 2021,” she said. “I’m trying to use what worked then to build something that lasts longer than two weeks.”
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
46 articles published
