Emma Raducanu set to appoint Angelique Kerber's former mentor Torben Beltz as new coach - report
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Updated 09/11/2021 at 15:43 GMT
Is Emma Raducanu's coaching search coming to an end? The 18-year-old has been without a full-time coach since parting ways with Andrew Richardson following her remarkable US Open win. She has had a trial spell with Johanna Konta’s former coach Esteban Carril but looks set to appoint Torben Beltz ahead of the 2022 season.
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Emma Raducanu is reportedly set to appoint Torben Beltz as her new coach.
Raducanu has been searching for a coach since parting ways with Andrew Richardson after her stunning US Open victory in September.
She has had a trial spell with Johanna Konta’s former coach Esteban Carril, who is working with Andy Murray at the Stockholm Open this week, but looks to have settled on Beltz.
The German coach is best known for working with former world No 1 Angelique Kerber.
He has had three spells with Kerber, running from 2004 to 2013, then 2014 to the end of 2017 - when the German won both her major titles and reached world No 1 - and most recently from July 2020 until this week.
Kerber announced that she has split with Beltz as she wants to take “more responsibility”, a move which paves the way for Beltz to join Raducanu’s coaching team this off-season.
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The Daily Telegraph report that Beltz has met with Raducanu and her agent, Chris Helliar, near her home in Orpington.
He will bring plenty of experience to the table, which is what Raducanu said she was seeking as she embarks on her first full season on the WTA Tour.
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Speaking after winning the US Open she said: “I feel like at this stage in my career, and playing the top players in the world, I realised I really need someone right now that has had that WTA Tour experience at the high levels, which means that I'm looking for someone who has been at that level and knows what it takes.
"And, especially right now because I'm so new to it, I really need someone to guide me who's already been through that."
Beltz did not have much of a playing career but, along with Kerber, he has worked with top-50 players Carina Witthoft and Donna Vekic.
Raducanu is playing her final event of the 2021 season this week in Linz, Austria. She faces world No 106 Xinyu Wang in her opening match on Tuesday afternoon, having broken into the top 20 in the WTA rankings this week.
"It's cool but I haven't really looked at seedings," said the 18-year-old. "I never looked at seedings, even when I was unranked, playing a seed in a tournament. It meant nothing to me so I'm sure it means nothing to the other players.
"It's just as much motivation, if not more, to take out a seed. I just really want to have fun this week and try and enjoy it because it's the last one of the season and I feel like I'm really in a positive mind space."
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