Emma Raducanu was supported by one of her former coaches duringher Miami Open second-round match against Emma Navarro as Mark Petchey was seen in her box.
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On Friday, the world No. 60 registered her best win of the year after outlasting the No. 8 seed and 2024 US Open semifinalist 7-6 (6) 2-6 7-6 (3) for her career third top-10 victory but also her first top-10 triumph on hard courts.
All of this comes just days after Raducanu ended her trial period with coach Vladimir Platenik after only two weeks. After Platenik wasn't spotted in the Briton's box during her opening win against Sayaka Ishii, the Slovak coach later confirmed to BBC Sport that they went their separate ways and also revealed that one of the reasons behind that was the 22-year-old feeling a lot of stress and pressure to make the right decisions.
Two days later, Raducanu had Petchey in her box - who famously worked with her before she burst onto the scene in 2021. However, it is nothing serious or permanent, according to British tennis journalist James Gray.
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Petchey has been a very loud defender of Raducanu
The 54-year-old former British tennis player has defended the 2021 US Open champion on numerous occasions over the last couple of years. Earlier this year, he once again hit at the media but also the public about their way of portraying the 22-year-old.
There's no doubt that she is misunderstood... She's already getting called a one-slam wonder like she's never going to win one again, and that must be incredibly difficult to deal with. People love to take pot shots at her but theres a lot more to her than just being a tennis player," Petchey told Betway earlier this year.
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Whoever knows Raducanu, knows pretty well that she likes to be surrounded by people she feels comfortable around. And Petchey is definitely one of those people so that may have positively impacted her play versus Navarro.
It will be interesting to see if the 54-year-old returns to the Briton's box for her Miami third-round match against McCartney Kessler.
