“I’m like: ‘Why the hell would you get rid of your coach a couple of weeks or a month after you won the US Open?’" - John McEnroe backs Emma Raducanu's decision to reunite with Richardson

More scrutiny has been piled on Emma Raducanu in recent times as she makes her return to action with another change in her coaching staff. Andrew Richardson is back alongside the British number one after he guided her to the US Open title in 2021. This move has been backed by John McEnroe who was gobsmacked that the pair split up in the first place.

Shortly after winning the Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows, Raducanu made the choice to move on from Richardson to pastures new. A whole load of coaches later, she has decided to give the 52-year-old another stint as her coach.

They know each other relatively well from their prior stint together and seems like a wise move for Raducanu who is struggling to get her 2026 campaign rolling. The 23-year-old has been absent from the court for over two months after last playing at Indian Wells. This was due to a virus that would not go away.

She finally made a return to the action in her first match on clay in 2026. It ended in defeat at the Internationaux de Strasbourg where she was originally granted a wildcard to feature in the WTA 500 tournament. Raducanu lost out to fellow wildcard Diane Parry 6-4, 7-6(4) as she attempts to get back in the swing of things with Roland Garros and the grass swing on home soil fast approaching.

Eight-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe was amazed from the off that she let Richardson go. “I was amazed that she got rid of the coach in the first place," he said. “I’m like: ‘Why the hell would you get rid of your coach a couple of weeks or a month after you won the US Open?’ I never understood that.

“I was surprised because athletes are very superstitious, you don’t change the winning formula. You came from nowhere and you won this US Open the way she did, it would seem like it would be nonsensical to me to do what she did.”

It seems like the clay swing for Raducanu is a bit of a write-off. With Roland Garros the only tournament left, it will be just a third appearance at the tournament after exiting in the second round in 2022 and 2025.

McEnroe was in full belief that Raducanu, under the influence of Richardson, could have a very positive spell together on grass. “To me, grass would clearly be her more comfortable opportunity against the top players,” the American said. “I don’t see her as nearly as comfortable on clay. I think that’s her least-comfortable surface."

He pinpointed Wimbledon as the overall target. “Is it too little, too late? She’s still young. I don’t know physically where she’s at, mentally – there’s a lot of issues that I’m not familiar enough with. But I would certainly think that the hope would be to have her, even though there’s a lot more pressure on her in Wimbledon, that she would have a much better chance of doing something big there.”