Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff respond to Emma Raducanu’s coach claim

Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff have both given their verdicts on Emma Raducanu’s claim she will be happy to go through periods without a coach.

The subject of Raducanu’s coach has been a well discussed one with the 23-year-old having already had seven permanent coaches during her professional career.

The most recent of those partnerships, with Francisco Roig, ended in January and Raducanu suggested she was being told too much on how she should play.

“Right now, it’s more about bringing my instincts back out, getting back in touch with myself,” Raducanu told the BBC.

“I have had a lot of people telling me what to do, how to play, and it hasn’t necessarily fit.

“So I want to come back to my natural way of playing. That takes time to relearn because that’s something that has been coached out of me a little bit.

“I don’t necessarily want to have one coach in the role because anyone I bring in is straight away going to be scrutinised – even if it’s a trial.

“I might feel the pressure to stick with them, even if it’s not necessarily the right decision.

“I would love to have a coach that works well, but I don’t think it’s necessarily going to be easy to find one person and they are going to check every box.

“I definitely have my mind open to it. It’s just that I would rather someone not come in and tell me ‘let’s do this’, and I disagree with it but have to listen to them.

“So far Alexis [Canter] has been really good, but I am definitely going to tap into a few people here and there.”

That prospect of going without coaches for periods was put to both Gauff and Sabalenka and each of them suggested they would always like someone in the box.

Gauff said: “I don’t think it would go well. There are tournaments where I maybe don’t listen to my coach that much at all, so maybe it is self-coach.

“No, I think, I mean, for me personally, I feel like it’s always good to have some direction. I feel like the team I have now, they don’t overcoach. They let me, you know, think it through. Like today I didn’t look at my box for advice once. That’s how I usually prefer it.

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“But, you know, I don’t know, I think it’s nice to have a coach with you, but every player is different. I know some players can play well without one, and some prefer just maybe someone like a hitting partner/coach. But I feel like with all the changes I’m making in my game, I think I would get pretty lost without one.

After joking she would “fire all of them”, World No.1 Sabalenka then said it would be tough for her to go without her coach there.

“No, I think for me personally it would be tough. I think even though I’m mentally tough and strong, for me it’s important to feel the support and to see my team in the box and just have my people around.

“So for me, I mean, right now I don’t see myself being without the coach. And even though I’m, like, smart and I know tennis, I kind of like know everything, but at the same time, I don’t like to go in the practice and do the whole practice myself. It just takes too much of energy.

“I just need the coach to schedule the practice, to make me do stuff and just so the only thing I’m worried about is my tennis, not like which exercise should I do today? What should I work on today?

“For me, it would be difficult. But I feel like she has been struggling a lot with finding the right coach, the right fit for her. I think maybe for her it’s good to take this little break, not rushing, like, bringing just anyone in her team. That just makes more problem, I feel like, and insecurity, you don’t have your person around.

“I feel like maybe for her it’s a good decision, but I feel like she’s going to obviously end up having a coach. I think she just needs to choose carefully the person that she’s gonna bring on her team.”

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