"I think Petch is a strong enough individual": CoCo Vandeweghe highlights primary reason behind Emma Raducanu's recent coaching appointment

Former WTA star CoCo Vandeweghe believes that the primary reason behind Britain’s Emma Raducanu’s decision to add Mark Petchey is because he is not that much of a ‘yes man’. The 22-year-old, who was once regarded as the next big thing after winning the US Open back in 2021 at the age of 18, has gone through a rough patch ever since that triumph four years back.

A lot of it is due to fitness concerns, but some of it was also attributed to her poor form on the court. In the recent past, Raducanu has been criticised for not having a settled coaching staff. The former world number one, in recent years, has changed a number of coaches. She hired Croatian coach Vladimir Platenik on a trial basis, but their partnership ended after her premature exit from the Indian Wells, where she lost to Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2.

After that, Raducanu turned to Petchey, who has coached a lot of big-name players in the past, including the likes of Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Andy Murray. Their partnership started on a good footing as the one-time Grand Slam had an impressive outing at the Miami Open, where she was knocked out after losing in the quarterfinal to America’s Jessica Pegula with a score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-2.

Former world number nine Vandeweghe has been recently quoted in a report by Tennis 365, where she stated that, in her opinion, the primary reason behind Raducanu’s decision to hire someone like Petchey is that he has the personality to say the right thing.

“They’re comfortable together, and that’s something that Emma Raducanu has looked for in a lot of her other coaches,” she said. “It’s just comfortability, not so much on the tennis court, but off. Someone that understands you, understands your day in, day out, what our life is at home. And I think that’s sometimes overlooked on the women’s tour is, how comfortable are you? Are you happy on your off-court life? Then does that translate onto your tennis right there. Petch is such a smart and intelligent tennis player himself, coach, he’s been in those difficult situations, understands what it means for British No 1, he was with Andy Murray before, so he understands what that comes with, the pressure of that, and it’s all about handling those emotions. I think Petch is a strong enough individual to be able to do that, I think he can stand on his own two feet, where maybe some of the other coaches she had were too much of a ‘yes man’, to be just happy.”