"Don't think you can blame Emma Raducanu" - Brit's ex-coach defends her against criticism for BJK Cup withdrawal, calls out tour schedule

Emma Raducanu's ex-coach Mark Petchey recently sided with the WTA star over her decision to withdraw from the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals. Raducanu's withdrawal from the women's international team tennis event reportedly didn't go down well with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

Petchey worked closely with Raducanu earlier this year in an informal capacity. Their collaboration was relatively fruitful, as the former WTA No. 10 made a few promising runs across a number of tournaments. Most notably, she reached the quarterfinals of the Miami Open and the Queen's Club Championships, as well as the semis of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. Ahead of the Cincinnati Open, Raducanu roped in Francisco Roig as her full-time coach.

Speaking recently to BetVictor, Mark Petchey strongly defended Emma Raducanu's withdrawal from the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Finals. Petchey, who previously coached the legendary Andy Murray, dismissed doubts surrounding the WTA No. 34's desire to represent Great Britain. He also lambasted the tennis schedule.

"There’s always two sides to everything. It’s very easy to come down on the side that you should want to represent your country. To be fair to Emma, when you look back at what she achieved on the clay against France, she proved that when she’s put up against it, she can A, produce the goods and B does want to play. I don’t think you can blame Emma for a schedule that makes zero sense," Petchey said.

The 55-year-old went on to talk about the importance of being seeded at next year's Australian Open for Raducanu, adding:

"For me when I was with her and before Francisco took over the reins full-time, it was a 50-50 call for me in that regard. If you’re asking me personally, from a purely selfish point of view of wanting to be in the best position for Australia, I would tell her not to play. From a PR point of view, you know that people are going to take it badly. But a tennis player’s career is short. She’s suddenly on an upward curve. She understands the importance of wanting to get seeded."

Emma Raducanu set to feature at Korea Open instead of Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Emma Raducanu during a press conference at the 2025 US Open (Source: Getty)

Emma Raducanu's next competitive outing is slated to come at the 2025 Korea Open, where the Brit is the No. 8 seed and has been drawn to face Jaqueline Christian in the first round. The winner of the match will go on to square off against either Barbora Krejcikova or Tatiana Prozorova in the second round.

There's a chance of Raducanu clashing against WTA No. 2 and reigning Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. Concerningly for the Brit, she has lost all five of her career meetings with the Pole in straight sets.

Raducanu's most recent outing at the Korea Open came last year, but it was a disappointing one, as she retired mid-match during her quarterfinal clash against Daria Kasatkina with a left foot injury.

Edited by Sudipto Pati