In 2021, Emma Raducanu surprisingly won the US tennis Open in her second Grand Slam tournament at just 18 years old. The young tennis player also had to overcome the qualifying phase of the tournament, which she managed to conquer without conceding a single set, an incredible feat at all levels.
Well, we’re in 2024 and Raducanu hasn’t managed to win any other tournament, nor has she even reached a final in more modest competitions. It’s true that she has had some injuries and it was very difficult to keep the bar so high, but what the entire tennis world knows about the British tennis player is that since she won her only WTA tour title, the spectacular US Open in September 2021, Emma has had 9 different coaches! On the professional circuit, coaching changes are common, but not at this pace. To give you an idea, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer together have had fewer coaches than Raducanu in these 3 years.
What can we learn from Raducanu’s experience?
Well, something we defend at Glorick: the training process, the improvement of skills and the development of a professional career do not work without a model of continuity and the stability of processes, something that goes hand in hand with those who accompany and guide us. Success, at least that which lasts over time, doesn’t come in a few months, you need to persist and believe in the structure and the path outlined. The relationship between coach and tennis player, or between teacher and student, requires time to bear fruit, and perhaps that’s why Raducanu has recently rehired her first coach.
The example of Jannik Sinner
About a month ago, the Australian Open ended with the victory of Jannik Sinner, a boy who a few years ago did not even play on the junior tour, and who is now Carlos Alcaraz’s main rival in the future of men’s tennis. Throughout 2023, many doubted whether Sinner would ever get to where he is, but he always said that he believed in the “process”, which was nothing more than continuing to trust in what his technical team had defined as his path to success. Well, just yesterday Sinner won another tournament, and remains unbeatable in 2024.
Glorick’s model
We also believe in the process, which is why we replicate the model of continuity in the teacher-student relationship as essential for educational success. As many athletes have said, getting to the top is not the most difficult thing, what is really difficult is staying there.