Emma Raducanu's dad slammed for behaviour that makes coaching daughter 'very difficult'

's coaching approach has always been a contentious topic. The Brit earned a ruthless reputation when she went through five mentors in the first 18 months of her career, and former coaches Ian, and the influence he has over her team.

Philippe Dehaes, who worked with Raducanu while she was still in her first year of A-Levels, has now given an insight into his experience with the world No. 41 and her father, admitting that Ian could make things "very difficult" for any of Raducanu's coaches.

Dehaes, who has previously worked with top WTA stars Daria Kasatkina and Elise Mertens, spent just three months in the Raducanu camp before the Covid pandemic forced an end to their partnership.

While he thought Ian was "humble" and commended Raducanu's parents for caring about her development and education, in just three months, Dehaes saw a side to the Brit's father that made it tough to do his job.

"This is the negative thing. Ian believed that with an engineer's mind, you can solve everything," the Belgian coach said in a book extract serialised by the .

"In tennis, one plus one can be three, right? You cannot control every parameter. Many things can happen and without you understanding why. The match can turn for any reason.

"But Ian, he believes that if you control every parameter, you can really reach the super-high level, because it's a mathematical way of thinking. And sports, it's not mathematics."

Dehaes found this approach tough during his brief stint with Raducanu, and he believes coaches often struggle to stay with her team for the long term.

He added: "That, for me, is the reason why he has very tough relations with coaches [now], because he believes that he's a little bit more clever than anybody around the table, and that makes the discussion very, very, very difficult."

More than five years after her time with Dehaes, Raducanu's coaching situation remains a hot topic.

The British No. 2 parted ways with Nick Cavaday earlier this year, one of her childhood coaches who returned to her camp at the end of 2023. After 14 months together, he stepped away for health reasons.

Raducanu enlisted some LTA and youth coaches to help her temporarily before having a very brief trial with Vladimir Platenik, which .

She retired with another old mentor, Mark Petchey, at the Miami Open and they have been working together on an "informal" basis ever since, as he also juggles his media commentary role.

Petchey is and has reportedly cleared his diary of any extra commitments to be a consistent presence in Raducanu's box throughout the month.