Johanna Konta defends Emma Raducanu against frequent coaching change criticism

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Johanna Konta is defending Emma Raducanu’s decisions as a coach, saying the 20-year-old is making these calls for ‘her own benefit’. Since Wimbledon 2021, Raducanu has worked with five different coaches. Last year, Raducanu parted ways with Torben Beltz and Dmitry Tursunov before adding Sebastian Sachs to his coaching staff ahead of the start of the 2023 season.

Raducanu’s frequent coaching changes have earned him harsh criticism, but former Britain No.1 Konta disagrees with some of the things that have been said about the 20-year-old. “Changing coaches has always been completely normal, but to be honest it’s about finding the right people for you and if it takes five, 10, 15 or 20, that’s what you have to do.

Your job is not to please outsiders for your choices of what you do for your own career. The decisions she makes are for her own benefit – not for what it looks like in the media and in print. She owes no one an explanation.

That’s how I saw it for me, but people will always have an opinion,” Konta told Sky Sports.

Konta advises Raducanu to make a successful return to tennis

After battling injuries and physical setbacks for a year and a half, Raducanu announced last week that she was undergoing surgery on both hands and left ankle.

For a 20-year-old, Raducanu has probably fought off more injuries than she should have. However, Konta isn’t concerned about Raducanu’s long-term future. “I don’t think her age is a concern. Because she’s 20, she has a lot of time because she’s at the start of her career.

She’s going to have enough time to keep building her body, keep building her strength. Obviously, you don’t want to be young and have surgery. However, there have been many athletes throughout history who had surgery young and they come back even stronger, come back better and do brilliant things in sport,” Konta added.

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