Unpredictable Emma Raducanu is unlikely to ever find a steady coaching relationship, with her manager serving warning to tennis about his client’s proclivity for failing to hold a mentor for more than a matter of months.
The No. 131 Brit who has become more of a social media and influencer force than an actual competitor due to several seasons of injuries and three recent wrist and elbow operations is never mentioned in trophy talk these days.
It could seem that her brief flare of glory – winning the 2021 US Open from a qualifying start and earning multi-millions in near-instant sponsorships – has become the main focus points for her brief career.
She has since not progressed out of the second round at a major.
That’s all fine by Max Eisenbud, the fast-talking IMG agent who spelled out the Raducanu take-it-or-leave-it attitude to what is her revolving door of coaches. The multi-tasking middle man has also handled other – more successful divas – including Maria Sharapova and China’s Li Na
Since winning the New York Grand Slam as a teenager and sacking the coach who got her there.Raducanu and her family have been through at least five more.
“Her dad and Emma control all the coaching stuff,” Eisenbud told the Tennis Podcast.
“They never had coaches a long time – so for them that’s calm waters: having a coach for four to five months and then going on to someone else”
The 51-year-old added: “That’s not traditional.
“People have a hard time understanding how you can get to the fourth round of (2021) Wimbledon and then you don’t keep working with (coach) Nigel Sears.
“People when she stopped working with Nigel were killing her – and then she won the US Open.
“It (use and toss philosophy) doesn’t look great for the people who want everything to be wrapped up in a perfect bow.
“People just need to get over the fact that that’s what she’s gonna do. It’s probably gonna be like that for the rest of her career, because that’s what’s comfortable for them (the family).”
So far, Raducanu has been through coaches like tissues in flu season: Sears, Andrew Richardson, German Torben Beltz, Russian Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs.
Eisenbud can perhaps foresee a problem: “I would think there are probably coaches who might be afraid to take the shot because they’ve seen a track record.”
The manager defended his client’s time-consuming collection of top-shelf commercial sponsors, a list which includes Porsche, Vodafone and Dior.
“Most people think that she is shooting [adverts and promotions] all the time, that’s not the case. The days that she is shooting are very mapped out.
“She’s a hard worker, never skipping practices. But I understand why people see all the sponsors, they see all the money, they have a platform on social and they wanna take shots.”
