EMMA RADUCANU has split from another tennis coach – ending her partnership with Francis Roig.
After losing in the second round of the Australian Open, the Brit has decided to part ways with the Spaniard, who was instrumental to Rafa Nadal’s success.
Her team say it was a mutual decision and that “their highly-respected relationship” ended on “good terms”.
And that was evidenced in a heartfelt farewell message posted to Raducanu’s Instagram story.
She wrote: “Francis, thank you for our time together. You have been more than a coach to me and I will cherish the many good times we spent together on and off the court.
“While we have come to the conclusion together that we ought not to move forward, please know that I am very grateful for all you have taught me and fond of our time shared.”
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The split is a surprise in one sense given that Roig, 57, had helped to rebuild her game after Wimbledon and during her time at the US Open and into the autumn series in the Far East.
But then again Raducanu does have a habit of hiring-and-firing coaches, especially when things get rocky.
Roig is the eighth permanent coach to come and go as Raducanu looks for inspiration on the tennis court, more than five years since her epic US Open victory.
Though she does not have a replacement, she will be joined by Alexis Canter when she appears next week at the Transylvania Open in Cluj, Romania.
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Red flags about the situation were raised when she picked apart the tactics that she had recently used on the court following her exit from Melbourne.
Journalists who were present Down Under felt it came across as a dig at her Spanish coach, who previously spent 18 years working with the 22-time Grand Slam champion Nadal.
Raducanu said: “I want to be playing a different way.
“The misalignment with how I’m playing right now and how I want to be playing is something I want to work on.”
She later said on BBC Radio: “I didn’t play how I wanted to play because I wasn’t hitting any shot particularly well.
“It’s tough to take an assessment when you’re completely off.
“Me and Francis have done some amazing work together in the past few months, and I’ve improved so many different aspects of my game. It’s difficult to say we don’t agree.”
Raducanu started out with Nigel Sears at Wimbledon in 2021 – where she reached the last 16 on her debut – and then Andrew Richardson was by her side when she won the US Open in New York.
After that she was guided by German Torben Beltz, Russian Dmitry Tursunov, German Sebastian Sachs, Englishman Nick Cavaday – a childhood friend – and then Slovakian Vladimir Platenik, who lasted two weeks.
Mark Petchey stepped in to help in March 2025, the month after she was subjected to a stalker situation in Dubai, and he was by her side on an interim basis until Wimbledon that summer.
Petchey, 55, was always dividing his time between her and his TV commitments but did so much for her mental health and outlook outside of tennis.
Roig came in last August and had given her hope that she might compete against the big guns – but that has now disappeared.
Emma Raducanu’s coaches
The Brit has hired-and-fired a succession of top coaches…
NIGEL SEARS: April 2021 to July 2021
ANDREW RICHARDSON: July 2021 – September 2021
TORBEN BELTZ: November 2021 – April 2022
DMITRY TURSUNOV: July 2022 – October 2022
SEBASTIAN SACHS: December 2022 – June 2023
NICK CAVADAY: January 2024 – January 2025
VLADIMIR PLATENIK: March 2025
MARK PETCHEY (interim): March 2025 – July 2025
FRANCIS ROIG: August 2025 – January 2026
