Emma Raducanu has a new coach in her corner after teaming up with Sebastian Sachs, a 30-year-old German who has previously worked with Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic, on a trial basis ahead of the new season.
Sachs was at courtside on Friday as Raducanu returned from her recent wrist injury with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 defeat to Ons Jabeur at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, a three-day exhibition event in Abu Dhabi.
The German, who will initially work with Raducanu until the turn of the year, becomes the 20-year-old’s fifth coach in 18 months. Raducanu has previously had spells with Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz and Dmitry Tursunov, the Russian who ended their trial partnership two months ago.
“We are trialling until the end of the year and just seeing how it goes really,” said Raducanu.
“It’s been going well. I’ve done a week with him so far and I think he’s a really calm influence. He’s on it, switched on, and I’m excited to see how it goes.”
Sachs, whose own career did not progress beyond Futures level, lacks the playing pedigree of Tursunov, a former world No 20. But the German has compiled a quietly impressive body of work as a coach, most notably in guiding Bencic to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
In an ironic twist, Tursunov has started working with Bencic since ending his partnership with Raducanu amid concerns about the long-term vision of her team.
“I was walking away from Emma regardless of whether there was another [player] available or not,” Tursunov said in October. “We didn’t agree on the terms and there were some red flags that just couldn’t be ignored.
“In my opinion, her game is very raw, and I think in many ways it could use a lot of improvement. It’s going to take some time, but as I said to her and to pretty much everyone on her team, I think you just need to have one voice and just try that for a bit.”
Raducanu, who recently started working with Jez Green, Andy Murray’s former strength and conditioning coach, is hopeful that the recurrent injury problems she suffered this year are now behind her.
“Physically, body-, injury-wise I’m good now, I’m clear,” she told Agence France-Presse. “Touch wood it stays like that.
“I really worked on my fitness the last two months, less on the tennis court. So I’m just trying to get my feeling on the court.”
Given that it is barely a week since she returned to full training, the early signs are encouraging.
Raducanu fell behind early on against Jabeur, the Wimbledon and US Open finalist, but reeled off four straight games to take the opening set and remained competitive throughout. Her aim now is to remain injury-free and back up her 2021 US Open triumph with another title.
“It might not come this year, but [my goal is] to go out on the court and not think about my fitness, not think about, ‘Oh, start the timer, I’ve got 60 minutes to finish this match,’” she said.
“I want to be able to go out there and just focus on the tennis. I think this year I’m in a better position, but it’s still going to take some time to develop fully.
“I think my goal in 2023 is probably to win a title.”