Emma Raducanu has posted a cryptic message on social media just days after being criticised for her frequent overhaul of coaches. Raducanu has faced scrutiny for going through five coaches in five years but has insisted that some of them struggled to keep up with her constant questions.
Raducanu has endured a tough two years since her surprise US Open win as a qualifier, with injuries and inconsistent form seeing her tumble down the rankings to No 298. The former world No 10 has not played since April after undergoing a succession of surgeries on both wrists and her ankle.
In October, Raducanu opened up on her unstable coaching situation, saying some struggled to keep up with her “provoking” questions. The 21-year-old – who is yet to confirm a new coach after splitting from Sebastian Sachs in June – has previously revealed that she prefers to learn from different coaches.
Her recent comments were criticised by three-time Grand Slam champion Ann Jones. Raducanu has now responded with a cryptic Instagram story video depicting two pinballs travelling at different speeds.
One of the balls takes a bouncier course but still passes the finish line faster than the ball that follows a straight path. The caption reads: “This is proof that a life of ups and downs takes you further and faster than a monotonous and linear life.”
It comes after Jones told the Daily Mail of Raducanu saying her coaches struggled with “provoking” questions: “We had to find our own answers. You have to work at things yourself.”
She then referenced Raducanu’s decision to sack Andrew Richardson two weeks after her US Open triumph in 2021. “To fire a coach after she had just won the US Open was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Jones, 85, continued.
“Life is about momentum. If you’ve got the momentum, you have to take advantage of it and carry on. You’ve got a natural game. What you need to do is to improve what you have got. You don’t have coaches come along and change your game.
“The results are clear. You get injured, because it’s not natural for you to hit the ball in that way. It was natural to hit it the way you hit it in the first place.
“How do you recover your natural game after it has been changed? It’s very difficult to find what you had before. I think she’s really enjoyed winning and I don’t think she wants to lose now. It’s a waste and we could do with a champion here.”
