Barry Cowan gives his verdict on Emma Raducanu’s US Open prospects this year

Cowan believes she could make an impact, saying: “Yeah, I think grass and fast hard courts are her best surfaces. I think the reason for that is that she is a great timer of a tennis ball. And when she won the US Open, she predominantly played her tennis on the baseline and used her great timing to hit the ball early and rush her opponents.”

He added: “Obviously, on the slower hard courts, on the clay courts, it’s a totally different type of style that is required. But yeah, I mean, she can do well at the US Open. But I think that the women’s tour is something where I do feel… you know… I look back to Washington last year as a good example. She played two really good matches – she won – she built momentum.”

Cowan then spoke about how this year’s run in Washington compares to last year’s:

“She lost narrowly to [Paula] Badosa in the quarter-finals. And then she didn’t play after that until the US Open,” he said.

“Well you can’t expect to play one great week and then not play for three or four weeks and then pick it up… She needs matches.”

Barry Cowan weighs in on Emma Raducanu’s coaching situation

From there, we moved the conversation to Raducanu’s coaching setup, which has been a talking point for some time now.

Mark Petchey recently said he could no longer coach her, effectively confirming their split. Yet, there hasn’t been any official word from either side.

Cowan had plenty to say on the subject, starting with: “Well, the thing with Raducanu is, personally, and I’ve said this openly, that she’s trying to go against history. I believe in history, and history will tell us that players of that age, the development age between 19 and 23, I think you need a consistent message. I think you need the same coach.”

He did try to sympathise with Raducanu as he continued: “Now sometimes that’s not always possible. So there’s no point sticking with a coach for a year or two or three if literally you hate each other if there’s no chemistry. But ideally you do want that period where it’s a consistent message.

“Now what I’ve tried to understand is her end of it and she has always believed right from a very young age from juniors and obviously going through the US Open which she won. She believed in having coaches for a short period of time getting information from that coach then moving on my view is going against history.”

Cowan was keen to reinforce that he has been impressed with the new British number one assuring us: “I do think she’s had a really good year.

“I think what you’re looking at from Raducanu is ideally seeing improvement in lower-tier tournaments. She’s done everything upside down – winning a major before claiming titles on tour – but these are the events where she needs to start making deeper runs if she wants to break into the top ten or twenty.”

He finished by giving his conclusion on the Petchey-Raducanu saga stating: “And the third part of your question in terms of the coach – obviously she’s in Washington this week without one.

“So given how Cincinnati now stretches over three weeks if results don’t come your way it helps having someone there working closely on your game during those gaps between matches or tournaments.”