Nick Kyrgios makes ‘overrated’ claim as he comes to Emma Raducanu’s defence | Football

Nick Kyrgios has claimed that coaches are ‘overrated’ as he came to the defence of Emma Raducanu in the wake of her run to the last 16 of the Miami Open.

After just three wins from her first nine matches of 2025, Raducanu has enjoyed a welcome return to form in Miami where a walkover victory over McCartney Kessler saw her into the last-16.

Prior to that, Raducanu produced just her third career victory against a top-ten opponent when she dumped out World No.10 Emma Navarro in the second round.

The uptick in performances comes after the Brit sacked the seventh coach of her career, Vladimir Platenik, just days prior to the tournament.

Platenik’s departure was perhaps the most ruthless so far from Raducanu, with the Slovak only lasting 14 days and one game in his role before he was sacked.

Raducanu has faced criticism from several quarters for the constant chopping and changing of her set-up as she looks to get back to the kind of tennis that saw her win the US Open in 2021.

But Kyrgios believes that her most recent run of form is evidence that not everyone needs a coach overseeing their devolpment.

‘People awfully quiet that Radacanu is winning now,’ the Australian wrote. ‘Where all the experts at now? Lol coach’s overrated [sic].’

Kyrgios, who was knocked out in the second round at Miami, has not had a coach for almost eight years, with the 29-year-old admitting back in 2023 that he wouldn’t want to put anyone through the trouble of working with him.

‘I wouldn’t want to put them through that,’ he told Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast. ‘Some days I just don’t feel like playing. They can’t. I’ve had coaches before and it’s been okay.

‘I just think for me it’s really hard to bring someone on your team, especially now. Everything I’ve created has been like my best friend, a tight-knit group. I just can’t bring someone else into the team now. It’s just too far gone.’

Following her most recent coaching split, Raducanu’s team suggested that she will resume her search for the ‘right coach’ after Miami.

And the Brit may have plenty more offers on her table if she can Amanda Anisimova on Monday, which would mark the first time she has won four matches at one event since her 2021 US Open title.

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