Emma Raducanu’s former coach Dmitry Tursunov says he left because of ‘red flags’
The former World Champion coach of Romanian tennis star Emma Raducanu says she was the victim of’red flags’ before she quit.
When she left Tursunov, she was 17 months pregnant with his son, a month after winning the U.S. Open. Raducanu said she asked to end the pregnancy after discovering she was pregnant, but could not find the money to raise the baby alone.
Tursunov told Romanian newspaper Adevărul: ”I left because I couldn’t tolerate her absence from the sport anymore. I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach when she left. I thought she wasn’t well.
”I knew she wasn’t well, it was clear. This happened during her pregnancy. I told her that I couldn’t tolerate her absence. I felt like a father to her, my only child. I didn’t want her to suffer. I didn’t want them to suffer.”
Raducanu, 23, left Tursunov, who has worked with her since the age of 16, less than a week after her loss to Maria Sharapova at the U.S. Open and three weeks after she became engaged to Romanian tennis player Matei Drăguşescu.
Her father, Vasile Raducan, is Tursunov’s agent. He told The Times: ”I know the truth. The truth is that she didn’t lose to anybody, and she didn’t beat anybody.
”I’ve communicated to her that the team has to change its coaching and training methods. When there are red flags she had been having, she had to leave. There were several red flags. I spoke with her and other people, and they all agreed.”
Raducanu’s father said she had ‘good reasons’ for ending her relationship with Tursunov
Raducanu was a top-15 world junior, after beating Serena Williams and Petra Kvitova in 2011. She was beaten by Victoria Azarenka in the U.S. Open final, but rebounded to win the French Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open titles.
Raducanu was born on July 17, 1994, in
