Raducanu recently enlisted a new coach in Sachs – the former trainer of top WTA stars like Belinda Bencic, Victoria Azarenka and Julia Goerges – following her split with Dmitry Tursunov back in October. The world No 76 has essentially swapped coaches with Bencic, who is now working with the Russian, but appears to have a good end of the deal as her latest hire also has experience at Nadal’s academy in Mallorca.
As well as being an experienced mentor on the WTA Tour, the German is a former coach of the Rafa Nadal Academy and has also worked at renowned coach Riccardo Piatti’s academy in Italy – a place the British No 1 spent time training at during this year’s clay swing. And Raducanu has now been told that the relatively young coach could prove to be the right fit for her, as Germany’s head of women’s tennis vouched for the Stuttgart native.
“I met Basti seven or eight years ago in Stuttgart, and I asked him to be a hitting partner for my younger girls,” Barbara Rittner told the Telegraph. “He turned out to be perfect. He was a very talented junior who never made it on the main tour, so if you tell him ‘Okay, play as good as you can’, they wouldn’t have a chance. But he could find the right range for each player so that it was a close match.”
JUST IN: Federer’s coach gets new job as star’s retirement puts him out of work
Having proven successful with Germany’s younger tennis stars, the retired former world No 24 also thought Sachs was the right choice for Raducanu, but told the 20-year-old to try and keep him for as long as possible after parting ways with her last German coach Torben Beltz after just five months. Rittner continued: “Basti is a really down-to-earth nice guy. All the girls liked him a lot.
“He’s got a good eye for footwork and technique all together. And for his young age, he’s already very experienced. He is very demanding on keeping the focus and I think he’s a great choice for Emma. I just hope that he gets a little more time than the other coaches had. And because also I think Torben Beltz was doing a good job. Emma just has to focus maybe more on tennis a bit and just stick to one coach.”
Since being enlisted to help Rittner with the young talent in German tennis, Sachs has since gained a wealth of experience despite being just 30, and his younger age could be beneficial when working with the 20-year-old Raducanu. He later joined Germany’s Fed Cup team at their tie in Leipzig in February 2016, where the head of German women’s tennis revealed that Sachs first caught Bencic’s attention, initially as a sparring partner.
DON’T MISS
Djokovic schedule takes shape with unusual decision for Aus Open prep
Raducanu’s post-match debrief actions speak volumes on coach overhaul
Boris Becker gives harrowing details of time spent behind bars
“I remember that Angie Kerber had just won the Australian Open. I wanted to have a strong hitting partner because we were playing Switzerland and they had Bencic and Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky,” Rittner recalled, explaining her choice to bring Sachs to hit with the women’s team led by then-world No 2 Kerber.
“So he was there, and Bencic’s dad called me afterwards to see if I would have a problem asking Basti to be Belinda’s hitting coach. So that was actually when he started his coaching career for real: with the Hingis mother, Melanie Molitor [who was Bencic’s coach], and Belinda’s dad.”
After his stint with the Bencic family – which came full circle when he guided the world No 12 to Olympic gold last year – Rittner says Sachs then “found his way.” She added: “He was very, very eager to gain experience. He spent some time at different academies: the Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Riccardo Piatti’s Academy in Italy. You can see that he has a huge passion for tennis, and Emma is lucky to have him.”
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
