Emma Raducanu splits with fifth coach in two years after prolonged contract wrangling

Emma Raducanu has split from her coach Sebastian Sachs after less than six months working together.

Sachs, who was appointed last December, is the latest coach to have a short tenure in the Raducanu camp.

Telegraph Sport understands that, as with her previous coach Dmitry Tursunov, Sachs’s exit came after prolonged wrangling over contract details.

His departure leaves the former US Open champion searching for a sixth coach in two years, just weeks after undergoing three surgeries that will likely keep her sidelined until September.

“I have really enjoyed Seb’s coaching and working with him, it’s unfortunate that circumstances made it unfeasible for both of us to continue right now and we have decided to part ways,” Raducanu wrote in a Twitter post, accompanied by an image of her and Sachs. “I wish Seb all the best moving forwards.”

When Sachs took on the role, he became the fifth coach to work with Raducanu in 18 months, joining the likes of Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz and Tursunov.

The coaching merry-go-round has been a worrying feature of Raducanu’s short career, and she has not been able to form a stable partnership since she took the decision to drop Richardson, just weeks after he helped guide her to glory in New York.

Twenty-year-old Raducanu’s time with Sachs was full of injury woes. She played just 10 times on tour in half a year, recording five wins and five losses – including one retirement.

Raducanu has struggled with her fitness ever since winning the US Open, and has barely been able to string consecutive matches together without a physical ailment cropping up.

As a result, she dropped out of the top 100 last month, and the surgeries on both her wrists and one ankle ruled her out of the French Open, Wimbledon and likely most of the remaining 2023 season.

Her split with German-born Sachs, whose previous experience included coaching reigning Olympic champion Belinda Bencic and former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka, is a further blow to her plans to come back from surgery stronger.

Tim Henman, one of Raducanu’s most vocal supporters, told Telegraph Sport she needed to prioritise finding “continuity” during her time off the court.

“Emma needs to find consistency and continuity with regards to her team,” he said. “That goes for a coach, physio and fitness trainer. Being out injured, I hope she can use this time to put this structure in place.”

The Raducanu churn: Five coaches and one ‘invisible mentor’ in two years

Nigel Sears: June-July 2021

Coaching veteran Sears had a short-term deal to ease Raducanu into her first WTA grass-court season. Sears was previously head coach for women’s tennis at the LTA and it is understood he applied pressure behind the scenes to help get Raducanu a wild card for Wimbledon. Having previously worked with Daniela Hantuchova and Ana Ivanovic, he had a wealth of experience to draw on, and was in Raducanu’s corner for her remarkable run to the fourth round on her debut. He stepped away, as planned, ahead of the North American swing on tour.

Andrew Richardson: July-September 2021 

Richardson coached Raducanu to the most unlikely US Open title at her first attempt – and was controversially axed almost immediately afterwards.

At the time, Raducanu said: “I really need someone right now that has had that WTA Tour experience at the high levels.”

Last month, Richardson spoke out for the first time since the split and revealed that he was let go via a brief phone call from Raducanu’s agent a couple of weeks after New York. He said suggestions that he had chosen to leave after his nine-week contract expired were false.

“I was keen to renegotiate the contract,” he said. “I wanted to carry on, and I had a plan that I wanted to put in place for Emma. This thing about ‘I wanted to go off and coach my son’ is not true, but it seems to come up all the time.”

Raducanu’s decision to step away from the partnership was treated with criticism from some of the sport’s most influential personalities – including American veterans John McEnroe and Chris Evert. For a two-month period between their parting – and not for the last time – Raducanu coached herself at events in Romania and Austria, recording two match wins from four.

Torben Beltz: November 2021-April 2022

In November 2021, Telegraph Sport revealed that Raducanu had appointed Germany’s Torben Beltz, former long-time coach to three-time major champion Angelique Kerber. The intention was for Beltz to remain for the long haul, but that did not happen.

Raducanu’s off-season training block was ruined when she got Covid, and affected her physically for the entire season and her time with Beltz was marred by many physical ailments and niggling injuries which kept her from playing at full throttle. In the end Beltz was dismissed after less than six months.

After Raducanu’s split with Beltz, she shared that she would be taking consultation from a number of different trusted voices, instead of appointing a full-time coach.

She travelled to Madrid with Louis Cayer in her corner, the LTA’s doubles coach and to Rome with Iain Bates, the LTA’s head of women’s tennis during a clay court season marred by more injuries, this time a back problem. Raducanu conceded that she sometimes wished she had someone to tell her what to do: “Sometimes I feel like I need a voice to, you know, just hold my hand, [say] ‘Do this, do that.’”

Jane O’Donoghue: Wimbledon 2022 

Raducanu’s childhood coach Jane O’Donoghue returned to the fold on the training courts at the All England Club in the week ahead of Wimbledon.

A former player and LTA coach, O’Donoghue had previously helped guide Raducanu’s development from age 13 to 17, but swapped her tennis career for the city, and works for the Royal Bank of Canada. She has been described as an “invisible mentor” supporting Raducanu behind the scenes, and came to her rescue for Wimbledon, the most high profile event of the season.

Raducanu was struggling with an abdominal issue ahead of Wimbledon, but with O’Donoghue in her box, Raducanu looked relaxed and completely at ease.

Dmitry Tursunov: August 2022-October 2022 

Raducanu appointed Russian former top 30 player Tursunov for a trial period. Tursunov had experience working with a number of top players, most recently Annett Kontaveit, and had a no-nonsense approach.

Though her US Open title defence ended in the first round – to an inspired and in-form Alize Cornet – there were positives from the summer, including wins over Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka plus a quarterfinal at the Citi Open in Washington, DC.

But more injury woes – this time the first signs of a problem in her wrist – saw her pull out of the Transylvania Open in the autumn and then Tursunov made a swift exit.

His comments since leaving the Raducanu camp paint a mixed picture. He was glowing in his assessment of her, as both a person and a player, calling her “obsession” with tennis a “rare” attitude combined with her natural ability. But he pointed to “red flags” during contract negotiations that he said ultimately motivated his decision to end his time with Raducanu.

Raducanu enlisted fitness trainer Jez Green for the off-season, a man widely credited with taking Andy Murray’s athleticism to the next level at his prime, to help with her physical issues.

Sebastian Sachs: December 2022-June 2023 

Sebastian Sachs became the latest to join the Raducanu team late last year. His experience with a number of top players – including Victoria Azarenka and Belinda Bencic – fit the bill that Raducanu has always says is a priority for her when searching for a coach.

However he never really had a chance to have a huge impact, as in just five and a half months Raducanu suffered through fitness issues and played just 10 matches on tour.

The three surgeries she had last month wiped out any chance of her completing the clay or grass season, and will sideline her until at least September and it appears Sachs and her camp saw the lay-off as the natural moment to part ways. The search for coach No.6 of her short career begins now.