Emma Raducanu has arrived at Indian Wells on a mission to kick-start her stuttering season, but the draw has not been kind to the British No 1.
Raducanu split with her latest coach after an injury distrupted off-season, which was backed-up by a second round defeat at the Australian Open.
Now she has confirmed that Mark Petchey will be back in her coaching box for the WTA 1000 tournament at Indian Wells, with her former coach returning in what looks set to be a part-time role.
Afer lifting her ranking back into the top 30, Raducanu is seeded for the Indian Wells tournament, but she was always likely to get one of the top seeds in the third round.
She could take on world No 83 Ella Seidel in her opening match, but the levels will be ramped up radically if Raducanu gets through that match as world No 6 Amanda Anisimova could be lying in wait in round three.
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While Raducanu holds a 2-1 winning record against Anisimova, the American has taken her game to new heights in recent months after reaching the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open last year.
If Raducanu did make it through to the fourth round, she could face an enticing clash against Canada’s Victoria Mboko.
Maybe she is better off not having a coach and embracing that sort of freedom. She talks about wanting to own her identity – well, own it then,” Henman told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview at a Sky Sports Tennis event in London.
“I had a couple of occasions in my career when I didn’t have a coach and I really enjoyed those periods.
From what we’ve seen over the last three or four years, coaches don’t last long. That’s her choice.”
Henman went on to suggest the expectations around Raducanu as not misplaced, as he argued the 2021 US Open champion is good enough to compete at the top level of the sport and she needs to ensure she is not usurped by younger players coming up the rankings and threatening to move past her.
She’s 23, you know, and there’s plenty of 18, 19, 20-year-olds now on the tour, who are overtaking her,” added Henman.”You can’t stand still, but she’s still a very good player.
“It’s just my belief, and I think a lot of other people’s belief that she could be a lot better. And that’s an exciting, that’s an exciting thing. There’s no doubt that the scrutiny is a lot more for Emma than others, but she is used to that now.