Raducanu Fires her coach
18-year-old Emma Raducanu shocked the world two weeks ago by winning her first grand slam at the US Open. Everyone probably thought her coach, Andrew Richardson, had much to do with her feat. That’s why Raducanu shocked the world again this week when she fired him.
Perhaps, now that she’s a big celebrity, she needs a celebrity coach to match her newfound celebrity status.
But keen observers probably saw this coming – even before she won that Grand Slam. Because nearly every media mention focused on her telegenic looks. Her game was invariably an afterthought.
This giddy, impressionable teenager has top brand names pursuing her for endorsement deals. She probably finds that far more impressive than winning her first Grand Slam. After all, building their own brand is the holy grail of all teenage girls in this age of social media.
And what better way for Raducanu to build her own brand than to become the face of brands like Tiffany & Co, Evian, Dior, British Airways, and Nike, of course. And that’s just naming a few. But, given the millions they’re paying to sign her, the feeling seems mutual.
For the record, though, I’m old enough to remember the hype about the fame and fortune that awaited Serbia’s equally telegenic Ana Ivanovic after winning the French Open in 2008 at age 21. She never won another grand slam, and I suspect most of the millions in endorsements hyped about never materialized.
Raducanu, too focused on Grand Slams
But there’s probably no red flag bigger than Raducanu already telegraphing her intent to skip smaller tournaments to get “mentally prepared” for bigger ones. After all, this betrays an unwillingness to do the grunt work that makes grand slam champions. And it hints at performance anxieties she’s trying to avoid.
Even worse, this presumes she already has a record of accomplishment that rivals Grand Slam champions like Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic. They’ve been playing grand slams and smaller tournaments for nearly two decades. And, given their relatively worn bodies, they might skip smaller tournaments for strategic load management.
Raducanu is in only her third year on the tour. Yet she’s already trying to emulate their load management? How crazy is that!
Performance anxiety
I suspect that Grand Slam win has Raducanu suffering from imposter syndrome. But the more she skips smaller tournaments, the more performance anxiety will make it impossible for her to win the big ones. Now add all the media hype, product endorsements, and fan expectations, and that would make her performance anxiety crippling.
But the only way for Raducanu to build on the success of that US Open and maintain her confidence is to play those smaller tournaments. I cannot overstate that. But she’s so caught up in the media hype that she probably fears the humiliating prospect of losing, especially at smaller tournaments.
Whatever the case, it does not bode well that Raducanu fired her coach after the biggest win of her career. After all, she will infect any new coach with performance anxiety. Because they will fear that any loss would spell the end of their job.
Still, her mental state appears so fragile that she plans to skip tournaments just to avoid losing. Given that, you can bet she’ll be offering all kinds of excuses whenever she finally plays and loses.
Alas, Raducanu might need a therapist more than a coach.
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