Russian coach cites ‘red flags’ after splitting with British star

Dmitry Tursunov opted to part ways with Emma Raducanu earlier in October

Russian tennis coach Dmitry Tursunov has discussed the reasons for his split with British women’s number one Emma Raducanu, explaining there were “red flags” which led to the pair ending their cooperation.

Former US Open champion Raducanu is in search of her fifth coach in less than 18 months after it was confirmed earlier in October that Tursunov had opted not to continue working with her.

The pair had initially teamed up during the summer for what was described as a trial period ahead of Raducanu’s New York title defense.

The 19-year-old ended up exiting in the first round at Flushing Meadows, but was reportedly keen on sticking with Tursunov.

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The Russian, who has since joined up with Swiss world number 13 Belinda Bencic, explained the reasoning behind his decision in an interview with Tennis Majors.

“I was walking away from Emma regardless of whether there was another [player] available or not,” said the 39-year-old.  

“We didn’t agree on the terms and there were some red flags that just couldn’t be ignored. So that’s why it’s a little frustrating to read things like that… I wasn’t hopping from one player to another, I wouldn’t do that.”  

The Moscow-born Tursunov, who reached a peak of world number 20 as a player, praised Raducanu’s talent but indicated that a lack of certainty surrounding the “project” had led him to walk away.

“She’s extremely talented, she’s very athletic, and very coordinated so she can get away with some things that other players can’t,” said the Russian.  

“The ingredients are very good, but you can still mess it up. So I felt it was going to be an interesting project, but a very long-term project, and as a coach, you want to have a belief that you’re going to be at work for that period…

“I could have stuck around, I could have agreed on everything that her team proposed. But, deep down, I felt like that wasn’t the right thing to do.

“As difficult of a decision to walk away as it was, because I’ve never really walked away from a player, I felt like that was the right decision.

“Emotionally, I wanted to stay, but logically, I felt like I needed to leave. I felt like there were going to be problems later and I wanted to avoid them for my own peace of mind.”

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Raducanu stunned the tennis world when she emerged from qualifying to win the title at the US Open in 2021 – becoming Britain’s first female Grand Slam singles champion in 44 years.

That propelled Raducanu to new levels of fame as she landed a multitude of lucrative sponsorship deals.

Since then, however, the teenager has struggled with form and injury, dropping down the rankings to her current world number 76 spot.

Her move to Tursunov had triggered debate in her homeland, where some politicians claimed it would be used as a “PR coup for the Kremlin” amid the conflict in Ukraine.  

Despite her early exit at the US Open this time around, Raducanu said she would be content to start with a clean slate and attempt to work her way back up the rankings.

The Canadian-born star – whose father is Romanian and whose mother hails from China – won eight of her 15 matches under Tursunov’s tutelage, and reached the semifinals of the Korea Open in Seoul last month.

Tursunov has previously worked with Belarusian top-10 star Aryna Sabalenka and Estonian former world number two Anett Kontaveit.

He is currently coaching Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Bencic as she prepares to compete for her country at the Billie Jean King Cup.