Raducanu turns to Sachs as British star seeks return to US Open title form

Emma Raducanu is working with a new coach as she heads towards the 2023 season, reports said on Friday.

The 2021 US Open winner, who turned 20 in November, has had a growing list of coaches and is seeking the right formula to make an alliance successful.

She has turned for now to German Sebastian Sachs, a 30-year-old who previously worked with Victoria Azarenka, as a member of the Belarusian's team, before becoming the main coach of Julia Goerges and latterly Belinda Bencic.

Olympic champion Bencic recently appointed Dmitry Tursunov, who had been working with Raducanu, and Sachs has headed in the opposite direction by joining up with the British youngster.

As well as Russian former ATP top-20 player Tursunov, Raducanu has had coaching spells under the tutelage of Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson, Torben Beltz and the Lawn Tennis Association's Iain Bates in the past two years.

Raducanu and her team have yet to formally announce Sachs' role, but reports have indicated he has been with her this week in Abu Dhabi. Her management have yet to confirm whether this is a trial or a full-time appointment.

The one-time grand slam winner had a match on Friday against Ons Jabeur at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship, an exhibition event, losing 5-7 6-3 10-8 to the 2022 Wimbledon and US Open runner-up.

Under the lights. @EmmaRaducanu #MWTC #ThisIsMWTC pic.twitter.com/CcHJasz4fI

— Mubadala World Tennis Championship (@MubadalaWTC) December 16, 2022

After parting company with Raducanu, Tursunov said getting the best out of the Briton would be "minimum a one-year project but... probably a two-and-a-half-year project to be on the safe side", and reasoned that her game remained "very raw".

"It's going to take some time, but as I said to her and to pretty much everyone on her team: I think you just need to have one voice and just try that for a bit," Tursunov said.

Raducanu has not reached a final since her dazzling Flushing Meadows victory, and she finished the 2022 season at 76th in the WTA rankings.