Emma Raducanu’s partnership with coach Mark Petchey ‘working pretty well’
Petchey has been advising Raducanu alongside his TV commitments.
Emma Raducanu hopes her fledgling partnership with coach Mark Petchey can be for the long term but admits she will soon need to rejig her team again.
After a brief trial period with Vladimir Platenik did not work out, Raducanu turned to Andy Murray’s former coach Petchey at the Miami Open in March and went on to reach the quarter-finals.
They have continued to work together since but Petchey’s TV commitments mean it cannot be a full-time arrangement.
Raducanu’s mentor Jane O’Donoghue, a former coach now working in finance, has been travelling with her and helping out but she will soon return to her job, leaving the British number two searching for someone else to fill the gaps.
“It’s been working pretty well,” Raducanu told BBC Sport ahead of the Italian Open in Rome.
“Mark is doing his commentary work and around that he is going to help me as much as he can and hopefully the times align that he can be there with me in the matches. That’s why Jane is here for when he’s not able to make it to the session.
“While she’s not working it’s nice to have her as much as possible, but she will go back to work and then I need to figure another solution out.”
Raducanu began her clay-court season by reaching the second round of the Madrid Open and will take on a qualifier in her opening match in the Italian capital.
The 22-year-old is still inexperienced on the surface, and she said: “I feel slightly better than I did in Madrid.
“I want to use this period of the clay season to try and work on certain things in my game that I think are going to help me bridge the gap to the next level.”
Main-draw action at the Foro Italico began on Tuesday, and two-time former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova claimed her first win as a mother.
The Czech returned in late February following the birth of son Petr last summer but had lost all four matches prior to defeating Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 7-5 6-1.
It was Kvitova’s first victory since October 2023 and she will next face 27th seed Ons Jabeur.
British number three Sonay Kartal also progressed to the second round in Rome, battling back from a set down to defeat Australia’s Kimberly Birrell.
The 23-year-old’s reward for a 4-6 6-3 6-4 victory is a meeting with world number 30 Linda Noskova.
British number three Cameron Norrie failed to make the men’s main draw, though, the third seed losing 6-1 4-6 6-3 to Serbian Dusan Lajovic in the final round of qualifying.
