Emma Raducanu has admitted her relationship with clay is “complicated” despite reaching the third round of the Italian Open. The world No. 49 has minimal experience on the surface and had never won a match in Rome before this year. But she still isn’t feeling entirely comfortable.
While that relationship remains questionable, Raducanu’s partnership with new coach Mark Petchey appears to be thriving. Petchey started helping her out on an informal basis at the Miami Open, but he’s juggling his coaching role with his duties as a Tennis Channel commentator. And Raducanu gave one of Petchey’s media colleagues an insight into their work.
The British No. 2 is enjoying a career-best run in Rome after coming through two very different matches. On a cold, dark Wednesday night, she survived a rollercoaster match against teenage qualifier Maya Joint, winning 7-5 6-7(1) 6-3, having twice been broken when serving for the match.
It was another story when she returned on Friday afternoon, handily beating lucky loser Jil Teichmann 6-2 6-2, despite being thrown off when her original opponent, 21st seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, pulled out hours before the match.
Now through to the third round of the Italian Open for the first time, Raducanu has yet to fully find her feet on the clay.
Asked about her relationship with the surface, she told Tennis Channel: “It’s complicated! It’s complicated. Could you put that as the tagline? It’s complicated.
“Some days I like it, I feel like I have good time on the ball. Some days I feel like my positioning and my feet are going to go under me. It’s love-hate sometimes but I’m working on it and it’s getting better.”
Raducanu has been working hard to become more accustomed to the dirt, enjoying a training block with Petchey in Los Angeles following the Miami Open.
Petchey previously worked with Raducanu in 2020, a year before her breakout summer. They reunited in Miami, and he has continued to mentor her on an “informal” basis while continuing his commentary job.
Raducanu is happy to let Petchey work around his other commitments, telling his Tennis Channel colleague Prakash Amritraj that she was a fan of his commentary.
“I’m not biased but I love hearing him commentate. I think he’s a great commentator and I think he’s someone that I actually want to listen to, because sometimes I watch tennis and I have to mute it!” she laughed.
“Whereas with him, I love hearing what he has to say, he’s very interesting.”
The Brit is also enjoying having Petchey back in her camp, adding: “He’s obviously helped me a lot with everything, with the tennis, with off-court, with everything. We did some really good work as well in LA while he was with TC and I’m really happy with how it’s going.”
Petchey had to miss Raducanu’s opening match against Joint because he was commentating on the match for the American TV channel.
But he was back in her box when she faced Teichmann on Friday, and it remains to be seen whether he cheers Raducanu on against former world No. 9 Veronika Kudermetova.