Things aren’t going the way of Emma Raducanu at the moment. Before the Wimbledon Championships, there were hopes that she could dig deep at the tournament, riding on the home support. However, she bowed out of the tournament in the third round, losing against Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets. Subsequently, she faced a massive backlash from the fans, who slammed her for her poor show in the tournament and a disappointing run of form this year. Amid this, her coach, Mark Petchey, came to her aid as he slammed the haters with a stern message.

Petchey joined Raducanu’s team back in March this year and has overseen decent results with the fellow Brit. However, Raducanu is yet to reach the best that she showed a few years back. Nonetheless, fans have lost patience fast and aimed criticism at Raducanu for her poor show in recent tournaments. As a result, Petchey had to speak out, and he called out the fans for their constant criticism.

Taking to his official X handle, Petchey wrote, “If people spent as much time investing in making their own lives better, as they do judging others, they wouldn’t have time to hate because they would be so happy living the life that currently makes them envious enough to waste their lives passing judgement.”

Ever since winning the US Open title back in 2021, the expectations for Emma Raducanu have gone sky-high. However, she faced numerous injury setbacks in the following year and failed to replicate her US Open form on her comeback. While she was slowly rising up the ranks in the WTA rankings this year, she disappointed on her Wimbledon outing, which didn’t go down well with her fans.

Nonetheless, her coach felt that she showed a lot of promise in her loss against Sabalenka. “I’ve sought out opinions from people I respect in the industry, coaches, asking them what they felt about the match and what she could have done better and that gives you a chance to formulate a plan going forward for this week and in the future,” Petchey said while talking about Raducanu’s defeat against Sabalenka.

While Petchey joined Raducanu’s team on an informal basis, his commitments as a commentator mean that he cannot join as a full-time coach. Thus, he insisted that Raducanu appoint a full-time coach going ahead.

Mark Petchey breaks his silence on Emma Raducanu’s coaching situation

With her performances going downhill, Raducanu has had several changes to her support staff. Earlier this year, she appointed Petchey on an ad hoc basis, knowing that he would have his commentating duties in place. However, as she looks to rise up the rankings chart, Petchey suggested that Raducanu should appoint a permanent coach.

He said, “I think at the moment we are a bit more short term. She’s practicing this week in London and her next tournament is Washington, and she’ll stay in the States the whole time. Our situation is a little fluid at the moment. I am going to help her this week as much as I can, I have some other commitments I can’t get out of. We are very aware she needs a second coach to come on board and maybe just one coach, not me, as well. All I am trying to do is facilitate the best possible environment for Emma to produce the tennis she can.”

Emma Raducanu will next be seen in action at the Citi DC Open. With her favorite part of the season coming up, it’ll be interesting to see how she performs in the upcoming tournaments.