I can trust him – Emma Raducanu to keep working with coach Mark Petchey

Emma Raducanu will continue to work with coach Mark Petchey on an “informal” basis.

The 22-year-old linked up with Andy Murray’s former coach ahead of last month’s Miami Open, where she reached the quarter-finals.

He is the latest in a long line of coaches she has worked with on non-permanent terms – something for which she has been criticised.

“We’re keeping things informal for now and it’s been working,” Raducanu said in a joint interview with the Guardian and the BBC ahead of this week’s Madrid Open. “He’s someone I’ve known for a long time and I do feel like I can trust him.

“For now there is no real thing set in stone but we’re taking it week to week and he’s helping me as much as he can alongside his current commitments.”

The 2021 US Open champion admitted she still struggles with the scrutiny that follows every decision she makes.

“It’s really difficult, because I think every decision I make is made on such a big scale that it’s up for judgment,” she said.

“I just need to get to a place where I’m comfortable enough and secure enough in what I’m doing that it doesn’t matter what other people are saying.

“Over the last few years, that is, truthfully, something that I have been kind of toiling with, because I would care about what people think. I think just in general, in my life, like anytime someone’s upset with me or something, it affects me.”