Raducanu discussing coaching job with Petchey

Emma Raducanu is in discussions with Mark Petchey about appointing him as her new coach.

A final agreement has not yet been reached, but sources have told BBC Sport the Briton would like Andy Murray’s former coach to head up her team.

Petchey, a former top-100 player, was in the coaching box alongside Jane O’Donoghue at March’s Miami Open, where Raducanu reached the quarter-finals and produced her best tennis of the year.

Raducanu said at the time that she had some “really good people around me who I trust” during the week in Florida.

Petchey coached an 18-year-old Andy Murray for 10 months – during which he won his first ATP title – and trained with Raducanu during the pandemic summer of 2020.

Those weeks at the National Tennis Centre in London appear to have left quite an impression on the 22-year-old and there is a mutual respect and rapport between the two.

The biggest impediment to a more enduring partnership appeared to be Petchey’s commentary role with the Tennis Channel. That is one of the details which will need to be resolved as the two try to reach agreement on the number of weeks they will work together.

Raducanu has not had a full-time coach since January, when Nick Cavaday stood down for health reasons, and ended a two-week trial with Vladimir Platenik on the eve of the Miami Open.

She had previously worked with a wide range of coaches including Nigel Sears, Andrew Richardson – who was in charge during her run to the US Open title – Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs.

She pulled out of the Great Britain team for this week’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifying round in The Hague to train and “look after her body”.

Raducanu has not yet decided whether to play at this month’s Madrid Open but is expected to compete at next month’s Italian Open in Rome before the French Open begins in late May.