Emma Raducanu has spoken about it before, but never in quite such stark terms.
In an interview this week, the 22-year-old said how she had been “burnt quite a lot of times” in the aftermath of her 2021 US Open victory, and it has left her with a mistrust of new people and a reluctance to offer too much of herself to them.
It will shape her coming weeks and months as she tries to solve what has so far been the unsolvable problem, that of a regular coaching set-up.
“I haven’t really opened up to many people in my life, truly, but the ones that I really trust, I do,” Raducanu told the Guardian.
“And the thing is with me, once I let someone in, I let them in fully and I care for them so much, and I have been burnt a few times.
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“A few people who I’ve really trusted have surprised me, but I guess that’s life, and I still have some great people around me who I really trust, and I’m working on it.”
From a tennis perspective, this means settling on a group of people that she works with on a day-to-day basis. The Raducanu roundabout of coaches seemed to have slowed down last year when Nick Cavaday, a former childhood coach, spent the entire season on tour with her, only to part ways in January, the 38-year-old citing health issues.
