Emma Raducanu has named the one tennis rival she would one day like to be in her corner.
Raducanu has been pressing on without a full-time coach since parting ways with Nick Cavaday last month. Cavaday sent Raducanu on a surge up the WTA rankings but was forced to vacate the role in order to ‘prioritise getting back to full health’.
With a big decision still to be made, Raducanu was asked by Arab News which of her rivals she would pick to be her coach. And the Brit was full of praise for Ons Jabeur, who she feels has all the traits needed to be a success on the practice court.
“I would want Ons Jabeur to coach me because I think she has an amazing energy,” said Raducanu. “I think she’s a really caring person, a really generous person. She’s funny but has a great eye for the game and is obviously pretty tactical as well with the way she plays and has a lot at her disposal. So maybe one day, Ons.”
Jabeur has serious pedigree as a player, reaching a career-high of second in the world rankings in 2022 and making three Grand Slam finals. The 30-year-old has goals to reach before she thinks about turning to coaching, however, with a first major title still proving elusive.
The pair have only met once in a competitive setting, at last year’s Abu Dhabi Open. And Jabeur demolished Raducanu 6-4 6-1 to make it into the quarter-finals.
Results have been inconsistent for both players of late. Raducanu suffered first-round defeats at the Abu Dhabi Open and the Qatar Open, whereas Jabeur made it to the quarter-finals of both events.
Tunisian star Jabeur was then knocked out in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, where Raducanu ended her losing streak against Maria Sakkari. The 22-year-old was then defeated in the second round by 14th seed Karolina Muchova.
Raducanu was pleased that she could even compete against Muchova after spotting a man in the crowd who previously displayed ‘fixated behaviour’. She was visibly upset early in the match and eventually lost 6-7 4-6.
“Thank you for the messages of support,” Raducanu wrote on Instagram. “Difficult experience yesterday but I’ll be okay and proud of how I came back and competed despite what happened at the start of the match. Thank you to Karolina for being a great sport and best of luck to her for the rest of the tournament.”
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=67b68783a239443bbd817801f32b08a0&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.express.co.uk%2Fsport%2Ftennis%2F2016753%2Femma-raducanu-ons-jabeur-tennis-news&c=5243229400406682885&mkt=de-de
Author :
Publish date : 2025-02-19 07:47:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.