Emma Raducanu’s contract disagreement and coach’s brutal admission after her dad’s letters

Emma Raducanu will hope her new coach can have an instant impact after she suffered a disappointing exit at Indian Wells. The former winner lost to Moyuka Uchijima in her opening match on Thursday, marking six defeats in her last seven. Shortly before Indian Wells, Vladimir Platenik was hired to work with –her seventh coach in four years–following her childhood mentor Nick Cavaday stepping down after the for health reasons.

The 22-year-old has stated that previous coaches struggled to cope with her detailed approach to the sport. “I ask my coaches a lot of questions,” she told Radio Four’s The Today Programme in October 2023. “On certain occasions they haven’t been able to keep up with the questions I’ve asked and maybe that’s why it ended.” However, Platenik could be the one to buck the trend, as the Slovakian coach came close to working with Raducanu soon after her US Open triumph in 2021.

Raducanu spent a trial week being coached by Platenik as a 17-year-old, and a deal was almost agreed for him to join her team in 2021. Despite his interest in the role, the two sides never finalised a contract. Platenik was unsurprised that Raducanu’s performances began to falter after she found herself in the spotlight, but he believes the British tennis ace is primed to bounce back after giving his honest verdict on her career so far.

“The pressure is enormous and the players want to succeed so much that they switch [things around],” Platenik told Slovakian newspaper Dennik N. “That’s why they often get injured. Emma also approached me in a similar situation right after a great success [in late 2021], which is why I said it could be coaching suicide [to work with her]. But now she is in a completely different position.

“She’s already gone through hell, she’s already been through the worst. She had a great year last year and they did a good job with her last coach. He left at his own request due to health problems. Today she’s more mature than [at the time of] the previous offers.”

Platenik was also an option Raducanu considered before she returned to her old mentor Cavaday. However, when the role became available again after the , Platenik reached out to Raducanu’s dad. “I wrote to Ian to ask if they had anyone, as I knew their interest in me was more long-term,” Platenik admitted. “Her father wrote back that they didn’t have anyone and would like to try working with me.”

The Raducanu family favoured Platenik, regarding him as one of the few coaches who could help develop key areas of her game. Several years after their first meeting, Platenik joined Raducanu the day before her defeat at Indian Wells.

Her attention to detail quickly shone through as they spent 90 minutes studying her opponent’s game. Despite her many coaching changes, the 49-year-old feels no team could have helped Raducanu avoid the drop-off she endured in recent years.

“She won a grand slam from qualifying, [but] her experience was small,” Platenik explained. “It’s happened to many players after a grand slam title, look at [Sofia] Kenin or [Jelena] Ostapenko. Women’s tennis is balanced and she won at a very young age. Maybe she needed a better team or a more experienced coach. But the pressure was huge and maybe it would have ended the same with the best team.”

Dismissing the idea that Raducanu has not found the motivation required to repeat her US Open win, Platenik argued: “She doesn’t look like she’s complacent at all. Moreover, she has her feet firmly on the ground… unlike many players who are 80 in the world and behave a thousand times worse. They are often arrogant. Emma talks to everyone and is smiling. I am very satisfied with her approach – in both human and professional terms.”

Platenik, whose contract runs until the French Open in May, is the latest coach trying to transform Raducanu’s game, but he is optimistic about the future. “Of course, I perceive that they change coaches often,” he said. “However, I want to help Emma, and if both parties recognise that I am successful, I believe that the relationship will last longer.”