Emma Raducanu’s father, Ian, has been a key part of her inner circle for years. Coaches often speak about the influence Raducanu’s dad holds on her team, and he has reached out to potential mentors to get a second opinion on his daughter’s game.
One experienced WTA coach who felt the full force of Ian’s influence was Philippe Dehaes, who had a brief stint working with the world No. 41 when she was still an A-Level student. And he still remembers a relentless private meeting with the Raducanus.
Dehaes was only part of Raducanu’s team for three months, but her dad left a lasting impression. The Belgian coach was called into a boardroom to watch back videos from matches with Raducanu, her father and Ian Bates, the LTA’s head of women’s tennis.
“Suddenly, the father stopped the video, and he says: ‘Philippe, why did Emma play this ball on the right side of the court?’” Dehaes recalled in a book extract serialised by the Telegraph.
“Me, I’m a funny guy, so I say: ‘Ian, because she decided not to play on the left side of the court’.”
The jokes didn’t go down well, and Dehaes attempted to answer the endless stream of questions relating to the grainy match footage on the screen.
He continued: “With this camera, it’s not easy to be precise, but I said: ‘It doesn’t matter where the ball is. The ball is short, in the middle of the point, and she has a huge forehand – if she hits it like hell, it’s gonna be a winner’.
“Ian replies: ‘But Philippe, don’t you think that the backhand of the opponent is a little bit weaker?’ I say: ‘Yeah, maybe’.
“And he says: ‘So she can play the short ball to the forehand, even if the backhand is weak?’ I say: ‘Yes, if the ball is fast
“He says: ‘What do you mean fast, which speed?’ We had a discussion around this one point, but it was from another planet, the discussion.”
They weren’t the only questions he was bombarded with. More came, including: “Why did she miss this ball? Was this about footwork or her forehand grip? What could Emma have done differently?”
Dehaes’ partnership with Raducanu was eventually cut short by the Covid pandemic. The Belgian has worked with top players like Daria Kasatkina and Elise Mertens, but he’s still never encountered anything like that meeting.
As for Raducanu, she earned herself a ruthless reputation when she went through five coaches in an 18-month span, starting from when she made her Wimbledon debut in 2021.
She recently settled on one coach, Nick Cavaday, who spent 14 months with Raducanu before he stepped away earlier this year, wanting to spend more time at home for health reasons.
Raducanu is now working with Mark Petchey, who is juggling his coaching duties with his job as a Tennis Channel commentator.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk