Reason why Emma Raducanu brutally sacked Andy Murray's father-in-law

Emma Raducanu has become renowned for changing coaches during her relatively short professional career. The 22-year-old, who recently confirmed a new change to her team ahead of Wimbledon, has had six full-time coaches since 2021.

Raducanu's shock US Open victory as a teenager that year came under the guidance of Andrew Richardson, but the British ace chose not to extend their partnership just two weeks after her triumph at Flushing Meadows. Before her former youth coach Richardson stepped in, Raducanu had begun working with Andy Murray's father-in-law Nigel Sears in April 2021, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in her first Grand Slam. However, their partnership lasted just three months. "After Wimbledon, I was ranked around 200 in the world. And, at the time I thought Andrew would be a great coach to try and I went to the States," Raducanu explained in September 2021 after parting with Richardson.

"Never did I even dream of winning the US Open and having the run I did, and now I'm ranked 22 in the world which is pretty crazy to me. It's tough to have that conversation with anyone, but I need someone who's had that professional tour experience, and has been through it, and seen players in my situation for many years, going through the same because it's going to take a lot.

"I feel like at this stage in my career, and playing the top players in the world, I realised I really need someone right now that has had that WTA Tour experience at the high levels, which means that I'm looking for someone who has been at that level and knows what it takes."

It was claimed that Raducanu's switch from Sears to Richardson was influenced by her father's desire for the then-18-year-old to be travelling with a familiar face during her first professional tournaments abroad. However, Raducanu, who won her opening match at Wimbledon on Monday, had not expected to win the US Open and sought a coach with more pro experience after catapulting up the world rankings.

"The players at the top are serious competition and serious players. I just really need someone right now who has been through that and can really guide me along the way because I'm still very very new to everything," she added at the time.

Raducanu eventually hired Torben Beltz, who coached her for five months until April 2022. Short spells with Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs followed, until she reunited with former LTA Loughborough Academy head coach Nick Cavaday ahead of the 2024 Australian Open.

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Raducanu's agent Max Eisenbud defended the pattern of coaching changes in 2023. "That has been their (Raducanu and her dad's) philosophy all the way up through the juniors," he told The Tennis Podcast. "They never had coaches for a long time. You've probably heard of that.

"For them, that is calm waters, having a coach for five months and going on to someone else. I think people have a hard time understanding how you can get to the fourth round of Wimbledon and then how you don't keep working with Nigel Sears, who is a great coach and a great guy.

"All the people when she stopped working with Nigel were killing her... then she won the US Open. You were killing her for not staying with Nigel then she won the US Open. Then she changes coaches again. People need to get over the fact that that's what they need to do. It's probably going to be like that for the rest of her career."

In January, Raducanu announced that she had stopped working with Cavaday due to issues with his health. However, Cavaday recently returned to her coaching setup alongside Mark Petchey. "I'm happy to see him healthy, first of all," Raducanu said of Cavaday last month.

"I think having Mark and Nick, both people who have banks of experience and I think they can complement each other really well and I trust both of them a lot," she explained. "So that is a big fundamental for me. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to this upcoming season and see how it goes."

After her straight-sets victory over fellow Brit Mimi Xu, Raducanu has advanced to the second round at Wimbledon. The former US Open champion is set to face Czechia's Marketa Vondrousova in the next round.