Andy Murray tipped to become Emma Raducanu’s next coach to form ‘dream team’

Andy Murray has been backed to form a British dream team with Emma Raducanu if he becomes a coach after his tennis retirement. The 37-year-old bowed out on Thursday with a straight-set defeat against American third seeds Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul in the Olympic men’s doubles quarter-finals. Murray, pairing with Dan Evans, confirmed prior to the 2024 Olympics that it would be his final event before walking away from professional tennis.

A 2-6 4-6 defeat at Roland Garros confirmed an emotional farewell and simultaneously sparked questions about his next steps. Former British tennis player Mark Petchey has hailed Murray as the nation’s greatest sportsman of the last 30 years. And he has welcomed the idea of the two-time Olympic gold medallist striking up an all-star partnership with Raducanu.

“Of course, he could [coach] Emma,” Petchey responded when asked whether Murray could form a dream team with the 21-year-old Brit. “If that option came up for Emma, she would be mad not to take it. That would be the dream team in so many ways. He would be phenomenal.” Petchey is confident that Murray won’t enter punditry, which has become a popular pathway for retired players rather than coaching.

He added: “One thing that I think Andy would be incredibly inspired to do is to coach. I don’t think he would want to go into the media. Not everybody loves it. “Not everyone moves over to the dark side! Stefan Edberg, for example, is someone who would have incredible insight, having worked with Federer. He just doesn’t want to do it. “I would put Andy in that bracket. I would be very surprised if Andy ended up commentating or being a pundit. There might be the odd day here or there.”

But the experienced commentator doubled down on his backing for Murray to switch to coaching, whether Raducanu becomes his student or not.
“But if there is one thing he would excel at, it is coaching. For someone like Andy, it is the challenge of what to do next, the black hole you go into after stopping playing,” Petchey continued. “You’ll never be better at something than he was at tennis. He has to find a substitute for 90 per cent of his life.

“Being a coach and helping British kids would be number one on my list, and we would be fortunate to have him.” Murray will likely enjoy a break after the Paris Games before assessing his next adventure in tennis or another avenue.