What Emma Raducanu’s coach was saying after Iga Swiatek’s recent withdrawals from two tournaments

Emma Raducanu’s coach hopes for a positive change to tennis following the new coaching rule in 2025.

Next season the International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced that coaches can give guidance to their players either verbally or via hand signals during matches from the start of 2025.

The organisation said the new measure has been put in place to make tennis “fairer and, potentially, more entertaining.”

The reaction among those in the tennis world has been a divided one, but Emma Raducanu’s coach Nick Cavaday thinks the change can be good for the game.

What was Emma Raducanu’s coach’s reaction to Iga Swiatek’s recent withdrawals?

World number two Iga Swiatek was overtaken in the rankings by Aryna Sabalenka during the two months she was away from the tour.

In that time the 23-year-old missed WTA 1000 events in Beijing and Wuhan, one of the reasons being that Swiatek did not have a coach after parting ways with Tomasz Wiktorowski.

This was discussed on the ‘Tennish’ podcast with Sky Sports presenter Gigi Salmon and commentator Naomi Cavaday, and the latter admitted she did not agree with why Swiatek chose to miss those tournaments.

But after speaking to her brother Nick Cavaday who coaches Raducanu, she saw things differently, as he understands why Swiatek did not want to play in those tournaments without a coach.

“I didn’t really understand why Iga didn’t play in Beijing and Wuhan, because she didn’t have a coach, and I was saying ‘you’re a player, go out and play’,” she said.