Coach Dmitry Tursunov finds Emma Raducanu as a “great and smart person” who has no problems with putting up the hard work on the practice court and in the gym. Tursunov, a former top-20 player, has been with Raducanu since the North American hard court swing.
“I really like her. She’s a great person, she’s smart, she works hard,” Tursunov said of Raducanu during his appearance on the Tennis Legend Podcast, per Sportskeeda. “We all have our own things, every player has their own quirks and character traits.
Sometimes players can be stubborn or hard to coach, you’re not gonna get a perfect player. I think she’s a really good person, I really like her, so it makes it a little bit easier for me.”
Tursunov on working with Raducanu: I have nothing to complain about
After firing three coaches in 12 months, Raducanu took some time before adding Tursunov to her team.
Raducanu’s reputation of constantly changing coaches has drawn negative attention to her, but Tursunov says so far so good when it comes to working with the 19-year-old. “Whether things change or not, who knows, but for now I’m not complaining about anything,” Tursunov said.
Before the 2022 season, Raducanu hired Torben Beltz, the coach who guided Angelique Kerber to Grand Slam titles and the No. 1 ranking. In late April, Raducanu decided to split with Beltz. Tursunov, who previously worked with Aryna Sabalenka and Anett Kontaveit, explains that nowadays the players are “the bosses” and it’s better when the players approach the coaches asking for collaboration.
“I think it’s better if the player approaches, not the coach because ultimately it’s the player that needs help. If the coach approaches the players, it’s harder to figure out if it’s the coach that needs the job or the player that needs the coach,” Tursunov explained.
“Nowadays it has changed quite a bit, players are the bosses so it changes the dynamic. It’s not a good thing because a 19-year-old sometimes doesn’t even know how to book a flight ticket, so how can they decide how to structure a working relationship with someone?”
