Top News

Emma Raducanu has suffered more heartbreak at the Australian Open after being defeated in the second round by Anastasia Potapova. The British No. 1 lost 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 in Melbourne.

After what was a promising 2025, Raducanu entered the new year hoping to build on her three runs to the third round in Grand Slams over the last 12 months. Her opening-round clash saw her ease past Mananchaya Sawangkaew, but Austria's No. 1, Potapova, offered a stricter test. In her straight-sets defeat, Raducanu was primarily to blame, with a couple of double faults sneaking into her game and her forehand lacking conviction. The former US Open champ exits early once again, much as she did last year.

In 2025, Iga Swiatek bounced Raducanu from the competition, and soon after this defeat, she suffered another blow when her coach stepped down due to health reasons.

Fellow Brit Andy Murray was mooted as a potential replacement after his short post-retirement coaching stint with Novak Djokovic but this never materialised.

Questions will ultimately be asked of Raducanu's current mentor, Francisco Roig, now that she has failed to build on a promising season. Express Sport explores her relationship with three-time Grand Slam winner Murray.

Raducanu's US Open win catapulted her into the sporting limelight in 2021. This victory marked the first time Great Britain had a major singles champion at Flushing Meadows since Murray's feat in 2012.

However, in the wake of her astounding success, Murray refused to give his compatriot any advice for the future, admitting he did not want to intrude.

Murray told Sky Sports five years ago: "I never really liked it when all of the ex-British players were always wading in after every win and loss about what you should be doing, what you shouldn't be doing. I found it incredibly irritating and still do. I don't want to be that person."

12 months ago Raducanu suffered a similar heartbreak to the one she faced in Melbourne on Wednesday when Swiatek sent her packing in a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win. Off the back of this, Raducanu's coach, Nick Cavaday, stepped down due to health concerns.

Cavaday was the 23-year-old's childhood coach but took over mentoring her once again in early 2024. His tenure lasted just 14 months before he stepped down. Rumours began swirling about who would supplant Cavaday in Raducanu's ear and Murray's name entered the equation as his relationship with Djokovic remained up in the air.

An old interview Murray had given to the Tennis Channel resurfaced, in which he was asked which players he would like to coach at some point. Murray said: "Female player - Emma Raducanu. Male player - between [Carlos] Alcaraz, [Stefanos] Tsitsipas and [Jack] Draper."

This never materialised though and Vlado Platenik took over for a trial period before Mark Petchey's short stint. Roig was then installed in August 2025.

Murray's last coaching stint came with Djokovic and they worked together for just six months before mutually agreeing to split in May last year. But, speaking in December, Murray did admit that he has some regrets from his time as a coach and that he learned a lot about the role, hinting he may not yet be done.

"I was disappointed. Probably didn't get the results I would have liked for him," Murray said. "But it was a good opportunity because I felt I wanted to coach at some stage and if I didn't take it I might look back and think, 'It would have been really interesting, I could have learned a lot', or potentially regretted it.

"I learned a lot about what coaching is. I was fully invested, tried my hardest to help, and made some good relationships along the way with his team."