Raducanu’s ex-coach has strong statement on expectations as wish made

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Emma Raducanu’s former coach has hit out with a strong statement on the expectations surrounding the 20-year-old as he claimed “anyone” who understood tennis should have known it was unrealistic for the Brit to defend her US Open crown this year. Dmitry Tursunov walked away from his partnership with Raducanu but admitted that he wished he was as professional as the world No 74 at her age.

Raducanu and Tursunov parted ways after two months together, with the retired former ATP No 20 making the decision not to extend his work with the Brit and instead becoming the coach of Belinda Bencic. Although he opted not to keep coaching Raducanu, the Russian has now lauded her ability to remain realistic as he slammed the expectations on the 20-year-old’s shoulders.

Tursunov started working with Raducanu during the North American hard-court swing in time for her US Open title defence after winning the trophy in 2021 as an 18-year-old qualifier, making history. This year she crashed out in the opening round, but the 39-year-old thought Raducanu had still performed well despite an early loss.

“As far as defending the US Open, I have never won a Slam so I don’t know what it’s like to defend a Grand Slam,” Tursunov told SportsKeeda. “I think she has done quite well in that sense.”

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And the often-outspoken coach admitted that anyone who knew tennis should have known that it was “extremely unrealistic” for Raducanu to defend her US Open title this year, in what was her first full season on the pro tennis tour. He continued: “Honestly, the expectations of her repeating it were extremely unrealistic and anyone who understands anything about tennis would agree to that.

“It’s not because she doesn’t have the abilities. She has the ability but the game just needs to be improved to have that consistency to play at the high level.” And the former coach of Aryna Sabalenka and Anett Kontaveit also thought that Raducanu was ready to put in the work to get to a place of consistency as he continued to praise the world No 74.

“I think she was also very realistic, she understood that she’s got sort of a long way to improve and climb. And I think she was absolutely ready for it and hungry to improve,” he added. “I can’t get into her mind. I can’t speak for her. But that’s the impression that I was getting.”

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While some may have been under the impression that Tursunov split with Raducanu because he was unhappy with the 2021 US Open champion, the retired pro proved that couldn’t be further from the truth as he admitted he wish he had been like the 20-year-old during his own career.

“From my perspective, there’s only positive things that I can say about her,” he said. “Just the way she handled it, how professional she is for her age. I wish I was like that when I played.”

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