Emma Raducanu starts trial with coach Vladimir Platenik at Indian Wells
Emma Raducanu will begin a trial period with new coach Vladimir Platenik when she plays her first-round match at Indian Wells on Thursday.
Raducanu faces Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima in her opener at the BNP Paribas Open – live on Sky Sports Tennis from approximately 9pm – with the winner facing world No 3 Coco Gauff in the next round..
It will be Raducanu’s first appearance since she was the target of “fixated behaviour” from a man during the Dubai Championships in February.
It will also be the first time she has teamed up with a new coach since Nick Cavaday stood down for health reasons following the Australian Open, where Raducanu was heavily beaten by five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek in the third round.
Raducanu was beaten 6-1 6-0 by Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Australian Open earlier this year
Forty-nine-year-old Slovakian Platenik coached New Zealand’s Lulu Sun throughout her run to the quarter-finals of Wimbledon last year, when she beat Raducanu in the fourth round, and has also worked with Dominika Cibulkova, Daria Kasatkina and Veronika Kudermetova.
Raducanu has earned just one victory since Cavaday’s departure, beating Greece’s Maria Sakkari in the last 64 in Dubai.
When facing Karolina Muchova in the next round, Raducanu approached the umpire’s chair in tears just two games into her defeat after receiving repeated unwanted attention from a “fixated” man before and during the match.
Speaking ahead of the first round in Indian Wells, the 22-year-old revealed she “couldn’t see the ball through tears” and could “barely breathe” during the ordeal in Dubai.
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