Tennis-Raducanu hires Sachs as a coach for a trial period until the end of the year

(Reuters) Emma Raducanu says that her new coach Sebastian Sachs has been appointed on a trial basis until the end of the year.

Last year’s US Open champion Raducanu was succeeded on Friday by Sachs, his fifth coach in 18 months, when he lost to world number two Ons Jabeur after returning to injury in an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi.

Sachs, 30, coached Belinda Bencic to Olympic gold last year and was previously on the coaching staff of former world number one Victoria Azarenka.

He has linked up with Raducanu after Dmitri Tursunov decided not to extend his partnership with the 20-year-old Briton after this year’s US Open.

We will try until the end of the year and just see how it really goes, the BBC quoted Raducanu, who is ranked 76 in the world.

It’s been going well. I have been working with him for a week so far and I think he is a really calming influence. He’s on, on, and yes, I’m excited to see how it goes.

Raducanu withdrew from the British Billie Jean King Cup squad in October due to a wrist injury, but now says he is injury-free.

Physically, body-wise, injury-wise, I’m good now, I’m clear. Touch wood, it stays that way, Raducanu said.

(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru and Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Toby Davis)