Tennis

Emma Raducanu appoints Sebastian Sachs as new coach..

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Sebastian Sachs (left, with Belinda Bencic) is Emma Raducanu's fifth coach in 18 months



Emma Raducanu has appointed Sebastian Sachs as her new coach.

The 30-year-old German, who guided Belinda Bencic to Olympic gold last year, has started working with the Briton, last year's US Open champion.

Sachs is in Abu Dhabi with Raducanu, who lost on Friday to Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur 5-7 6-3 (10-8) in an exhibition match on her injury return.

The German had a brief career as a player on the Futures tour, but has enjoyed plenty of success as a coach.

Before helping Bencic into the world's top 10, he worked with Julia Gorges and before that as part of Victoria Azarenka's team.

Sachs will be Raducanu's fifth coach in 18 months. This year, the 20-year-old Briton has worked with first Torben Beltz and then Dmitry Tursunov.

Tursunov decided not to continue the partnership after this year's US Open, despite Raducanu's improved performances since Wimbledon.

The Russian spoke in late October of "red flags" and potential problems further down the line if she continued to listen to too many voices.

"She's probably a two-and-a-half-year project. Her game is very raw," the 39-year-old Tursunov told tennismajors.com.

"It's going to take some time, but as I said to her and to pretty much everyone on her team, 'I think you just need to have one voice and just try that for a bit'.

"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,"

Tursunov is now coaching Bencic.

Raducanu has only been able to return to full training in the past 10 days after a wrist injury ended her season prematurely.

But in that time she has been working with Andy Murray's former physical trainer Jez Green.

The British number one is set to start her 2023 season in Auckland in the first week of the new year.

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Emma Raducanu says she is injury free and feels 'good' after exhibition match..

Emma Raducanu says she is now injury free and feeling "good" following her exhibition match with Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The 20-year-old was beaten by Tunisian Jabeur but has been working on her fitness before the 2023 season.

Raducanu announced on Friday she had appointed German Sebastian Sachs, 30, as her new coach.

"Physically, body, injury-wise I'm good now, I'm clear. Touch wood it stays like that," said Raducanu.

Last year's US Open champion will attend the World Cup final between Argentina and France in Doha on Sunday before flying to Singapore to resume her pre-season training.

Raducanu's 2023 tennis campaign starts at the ASB Classic in Auckland on 2 January, before she heads to Melbourne for the Australian Open two weeks later.

She added: "I really worked on my fitness the last two months, less on the tennis court. So I'm just trying to get my feeling on the court."

Raducanu said the match against Jabeur was "pretty positive step in seeing where I'm at and what I can do better".

"I really obviously want to work hard, try to get back on court as much as possible but I could overdo it if I didn't really think it through because I want to be back on court so much," the Briton added.

"I just need to maybe cut down a little bit on the hours sometimes."

One of her "biggest goals" for the season, Raducanu said, was to play freely and "not think" about her fitness.

"I want to be able to go out there and just focus on the tennis," she said. "I think this year I'm in a better position but it's still going to take some time to develop fully.

"I think my goal in 2023 is probably to win a title."

Raducanu also spoke about Sachs, who is her fifth coach in 18 months after Russian Dmitry Tursunov ended their coaching partnership in October.

"We are trialling until the end of the year and just seeing how it goes really," said 76th-ranked Raducanu.

"It's been going well. I've done a week with him so far and I think he's a really calm influence. He's on it, switched on, and yeah, I'm excited to see how it goes."

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'We have a lot to thank Jamie Murray for' - Dan Evans..

Evans, 32, had put the English team in the driving seat, taking the opening rubber with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Scotland's 373rd-ranked McHugh.

The world number 27 repeated the two-set victory he enjoyed in his only previous meeting against the 22-year-old Glaswegian at the inaugural Battle of the Brits tournament in 2020.

Evans thanked tournament director Jamie Murray for setting up the event - the Scot staged the first two Battle of the Brits meetings during lockdown, without spectators, at a time when the regular tennis tours had been halted.

"We have a lot to thank him [Jamie Murray] for," said the Birmingham-born player. "He really looked after us back during Covid.

"I had a big chance to come and do it in front of the public and it wasn't even a choice really.

"All the players were always going to come. He has done an amazing job basically selling this place out so thanks so much to Jamie. It's an amazing event and I look forward to playing in many more."

Evans has one more singles match to play, against Andy Murray, in the afternoon session on Thursday.

The Battle of the Brits - between Team Scotland and Team England - involves four men's singles and two men's doubles matches spread over two days, from Wednesday to Thursday, 21-22 December.

As well as playing Evans, Andy Murray is due to partner brother Jamie in a doubles match, potentially for the final time in their careers, to close the tournament on Thursday evening.


Battle of the Brits

Venue: P&J Arena, Aberdeen Dates: Wednesday 21 December - Thursday 22 December

Coverage: Watch live on the BBC Sport website & app plus on the BBC iPlayer

United Cup: Great Britain beat Spain 3-1 to reach play-off..

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Great Britain reached the play-off round in the inaugural United Cup with victory over Spain in Sydney.

Dan Evans gave Great Britain an unassailable 3-1 lead in the best-of-five contest at the Ken Rosewall Arena.

The British number two defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3 1-6 6-3 after Harriet Dart lost 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-5) 6-1 to world number 13 Paula Badosa.

On Saturday Cameron Norrie beat Rafael Nadal and Katie Swan saw off Nuria Parrizas-Diaz to put Britain 2-0 ahead.

Dart and Jonny O'Mara sealed a 4-1 win for GB on Monday, coming from behind to beat Jessica Bouzas Maneiro and David Vega Hernandez 3-6 6-2 10-5 in the final doubles rubber.

"We've had a bit of luck, a few withdrawals," said 32-year-old Evans. "We've done unbelievably well on the court as well.

"We pride ourselves on team spirit and working hard out there for each other."

The mixed-team tournament involves six round-robin groups of three teams, played in Sydney, Perth and Brisbane.

The winner of each City Final will progress to the semi-finals in Sydney, plus the runners-up with the best record.

GB, captained by Tim Henman, will face the United States in Wednesday's Sydney City Final, which acts as a play-off for the semi-finals.

Andy Murray loses to Sebastian Korda in Adelaide International first round..

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Andy Murray's first match of 2023 ended in a straight-set loss to American Sebastian Korda in the Adelaide International.

The Briton, 35, ranked 49 in the world, 16 places below his opponent, was beaten 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.

Murray had recovered from a break down in the opening set to force a tie-break but Korda, 22, took control of that and went on to dominate the second set.

Murray's fellow Briton Kyle Edmund also exited the tournament on Tuesday.

Edmund, who is ranked 582 in the world but was using a protected ranking to enter the event after a series of injuries, lost 6-3 6-2 to Italian sixth seed Jannick Sinner.

ASB Classic: Emma Raducanu retires in tears with ankle injury 11 days before Australian Open..

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Emma Raducanu criticised the "slippery" courts at the ASB Classic in Auckland after retiring from her second-round match with an ankle injury.

The Briton left the court in tears after rolling her ankle during the second set against Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova, with the score 6-0 5-7.

It is just 11 days before the Australian Open begins in Melbourne.

"The courts are incredibly slick, so to be honest it's not a surprise that this happened to someone," said Raducanu.

The British number one, who didn't drop a game in the opening set, told New Zealand website Stuff: "It's difficult to take. I've put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I've been feeling good and optimistic.

"So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle, is pretty disappointing."

The match was played on an indoor court because of persistent rain in Auckland.

Raducanu, who said she would assess the injury over the next few days, tried to play on after receiving medical attention but withdrew two points into her opening service game at the start of the third set.

The 2021 US Open champion had an injury-blighted 2022 season, retiring from five matches, but said she was injury-free and feeling "good" following an exhibition match in December.

She began 2023 with victory over teenager Linda Fruhvirtova in her opening match in New Zealand in preparation for the season's first major.

Venus Williams withdraws injured from Australian Open..

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Venus Williams has withdrawn from the upcoming Australian Open after sustaining an injury at a warm-up tournament.

The 42-year-old had been awarded a wildcard for the Grand Slam, which begins on 16 January.

Williams was injured while preparing for the Australian Open at the ASB Classic in Auckland.



Other News:


There are doubts over world number one Iga Swiatek's fitness after she withdrew from a tournament next week.

Poland's Swiatek, 21, will not play the Adelaide International 2 WTA 500 event because of a right shoulder issue.

Three-time major winner Swiatek was in tears after a straight-set defeat by American Jessica Pegula in the United Cup mixed teams tournament in Sydney on Friday.

Australian world number 173 Kimberly Birrell has taken the wildcard place of seven-time singles Grand Slam champion Williams.

It remains to be seen whether British number one Emma Raducanu will feature in the Australian Open after she rolled her ankle at the ASB Classic on Thursday.

Australian Open: Emma Raducanu heading to Melbourne hoping to win fitness race..

The British number one retired in tears from her second-round match against Viktoria Kuzmova at the ASB Classic in Auckland on Thursday after rolling her left ankle.

Raducanu had the joint taped up ahead of the deciding set but played only one more point, wincing in pain before deciding she could not continue. The exact nature of the injury is not yet known, but the PA news agency understands her team hope it is a minor strain, giving the 20-year-old a chance of being fit for the year's opening grand slam beginning on January 16th.

Raducanu's frustration was fully understandable given all the injury problems she suffered in her first full year on tour, culminating in a wrist issue that kept her off court for two months.

She began 2023 feeling good physically and won her first match in Auckland against Linda Fruhvirtova before taking the opening set 6-0 against Kuzmova and then being pegged back.

Bad weather in Auckland meant the match was played indoors and Raducanu was unhappy with the condition of the courts. "It's difficult to take," she said on stuff.co.nz. "I've put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I've been feeling good and optimistic. "So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle, is pretty disappointing, in the first week as well. I thought I was playing some pretty decent tennis. "The courts are incredibly slick, like very slippery, so to be honest it's not a surprise that this happened to someone."

Tournament director Nicolas Lamperin responded to Raducanu's claims on Friday by insisting the indoor courts were safe. He said: "The courts have been checked, the courts are fit to play. We've had a number of matches on these courts and we haven't had any injuries apart from yesterday and the courts had been redone at the start of the year.

"We are obviously very sorry about Emma's injury. Every player works really hard in the off-season and that's not what you expect when you play a tournament in week one. "However, injuries happen all the time. It could have happened on an outdoor court." Raducanu made her Australian Open debut last year, reaching the second round.

Emma Raducanu hopes to be fit for Australian Open..

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Emma Raducanu says she hopes she will be fit for this month's Australian Open but is trying "not to expect too much".

The 20-year-old Briton retired from her second-round match at the ASB Classic in Auckland on Thursday after slipping and rolling her left ankle.

The Grand Slam begins next Monday, with the full extent of the 2021 US Open champion's injury yet to be diagnosed.

"We'll see hopefully by Monday or whenever the tournament starts," Raducanu said.

"We're just taking it a day at a time and not trying to expect too much at this point."

Raducanu left the court in tears last week after rolling her ankle during the second set against Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova, with the score 6-0 5-7.

The world number 75 is hoping to improve on her second-round exit in her Australian Open debut in 2022.

"It was really unfortunate because I was feeling great about my season and I was feeling really good with the preparation I did physically," said Raducanu, who has been working with Andy Murray's former physical trainer Jez Green in a bid to make herself less injury prone.

"I just had an accident on the court, I don't know what I could have done to really prevent that."

Raducanu had an injury-blighted 2022 season, retiring from five matches, but said she was injury-free and feeling "good" following an exhibition match in December.