Boris Becker calls Emma Raducanu's surgeries "career-threatening," says she and her parents have to be ready to accept help from well-wishers

Former German great Boris Becker has expressed concern about Emma Raducanu’s tennis future.

Raducanu withdrew from the Madrid Open this year and stated that she needed to undergo surgeries in order to deal with her recurring injuries. She has since had surgeries on both her hands and her left ankle.

In light of that, Becker recently stated that the surgeries Raducanu underwent are “career-threatening” as he believes players often struggle to recover from major operations.

“The surgeries that she has had are, in my opinion, career-threatening. Having surgery on your playing wrist, and as a two-handed player, the other wrist – and then on your ankle – is tough to bear for a young woman,” Becker said in an interview with The Guardian.

Since winning the 2021 US Open, Raducanu has had three different coaches. After splitting with Andrew Richardson following her title run at the New York Major, she worked with Torben Beltz, Dmitry Tursunov and Sebastian Sachs. The young Briton has drawn criticism from many for her frequent coaching changes.

In that context, Becker opined that Raducanu and her family need to be open to receiving help if she is to get back to the top of the game. The six-time Grand Slam champion also reflected on how his mentor Ion Tiriac helped him in his career.

“Ion was an extremely important mentor because he’d been there before,” he said. “I’m not in her inner circle so I don’t know all the things that went off, although I’ve seen the coaching changes. And yeah, there are a couple of people – but not many – who could help her. But, first of all, she has to be ready for it. Her parents have to be ready for it. And if that’s not the case, then nobody can help.”

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After guiding Emma Raducanu to US Open title, coach Andrew Richardson was "keen to renegotiate the contract"

Andrew Richardson helped Emma Raducanu win the 2021 US Open title.

Having guided Emma Raducanu to the 2021 US Open win, her coach Andrew Richardson was keen to work with the youngster on a long-term basis.

Richardson first worked with Raducanu from ages 11 to 13. He then joined her team on a nine-week trial after the 2021 Wimbledon Championships, when she was ranked around 200th in the world.

Under Richardson's guidance, Raducanu broke several records and became the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam. But two weeks later, in a shock announcement, the Brit revealed she was parting ways with Richardson since she needed to work with someone “more experienced”.

In a recent interview with Daily Mail, Richardson disclosed that he was keen to renegotiate his contract and build on their success, but was abruptly informed by the 20-year-old's agent about the split.

“There was a period of time after that when I was keen to renegotiate the contract. I wanted to carry on, and I had a plan that I wanted to put in place for Emma. After probably 10 days to two weeks (following the US Open), I didn’t have a contract,” he said.

“We were in the process of renegotiating, and then I got a brief call from her agent telling me they were going to go in a different direction, and that was the end of it,” he added.