Vladimir Platenik is shedding light on what led to a very quick split with Emma Raducanu as the Slovak coach says the 22-year-old is “under a lot of pressure and feeling stressed,” which impacts her decision-making.
Just a day before starting her Indian Wells campaign, the world No. 60 confirmed to British reporters that she had started a trial period with Platenik. When revealing the news, she spoke highly of the Slovak and early signs were pointing toward it quickly becoming a full-time partnership.
But on Wednesday, the coach – who worked with Dominika Cibulkova and Daria Kasatkina in the past – was nowhere to be seen in Raducanu’s box during the Briton’s first-round match in Miami. Later, the 2021 US Open champion confirmed that their collaboration came to an end after only two weeks.
Platenik: The world is looking at Raducanu, she is stressed
“I totally understand Emma, she’s not in an easy position. The world is looking at her after the US Open [which she won in 2021] and everybody is expecting – including herself – what she is going to do next. So for me it’s absolutely understandable that she’s under a lot of pressure. She told me she was feeling stressed,” the Slovak coach told BBC Sport.
Platenik acknowledges it is never comfortable to have a partnership end so early but insists that he is fine with Raducanu’s decision.
“There are no hard feelings from my side. She finished the relationship in a fair way, maybe too quickly, but this is tennis, this is sport. We need to respect that,” he added.
“She was not feeling OK, and that was her decision. I didn’t want to go into deeper communication about that. I think the player needs to feel good, and the player needs to make a decision. Sometimes you make a good decision, and sometimes bad.”
In the same interview, Platenik praised Raducanu’s work ethic and added he would be comfortable with working with the 22-year-old again in the future if she reached out and said that ending their first stint was “a mistake.”
Tennis World USA