© Getty Images Sport – Cameron Spencer
British tennis legend Ann Jones described Emma Raducanu’s post-2021 US Open win period as “very sad” and ripped the Briton’s “ridiculous” decision to fire a coach just shortly after her first Grand Slam win. In 2021, an 18-year-old Raducanu made tennis history when she became the first-ever qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam.
That year at the US Open, Raducanu won 10 matches in straight – three in the qualifying and seven in the main draw. But shortly after making tennis history and becoming a Slam champion in one of the most impressive ways ever seen, Raducanu fired coach Andrew Richardson.
Since moving on from Richardson, Raducanu has changed three more coaches. “Well, what did she think we all did? We had to find our own answers. You have to work at things yourself. To fire a coach after she had just won the US Open was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” former three-time Grand Slam champion Jones told The Daily Mail.
Jones on Raducanu’s struggles after the 2021 US Open
Over two years have passed since Raducanu’s US Open win and the Briton hasn’t won any titles since. Before undergoing three surgeries in May, Raducanu struggled heavily with her results and injuries for a longer period.
Addressing that, Jones suggests Raducanu went away from her “natural game.” “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,” Jones explained. Raducanu’s 2024 comeback will be starting in the first week of the 2024 season at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
