Emma Raducanu’s new coach, Dmitry Tursunov, previously claimed the idea of working with the US Open champion made him “tremble with fear”.

The British tennis star has reportedly hired Tursunov as her coach for her title defence at Flushing Meadows next month.

Raducanu will link up with the Russian for the American leg of the WTA Tour, which includes the Citi Open, Toronto Open, Cincinnati Open and US Open.

But Tursunov has previously criticised Raducanu for her “coaching carousel” approach.

”Now Emma Raducanu, who won the US Open, is laying off the people she worked with,” he told Meta Ratings in November. “Naturally, everyone is shocked.”

“If someone from her team called me now and asked if I wanted to train her, I would tremble with fear because you don’t know when you will be fired.”

Tursunov made the comments after Raducanu parted ways with Andrew Richardson just weeks after her historic win at the US Open, having already split with Nigel Sears after he helped her to the second week of Wimbledon.

The 19-year-old, who has also worked with the LTA’s head of women’s tennis Iain Bates, senior performance advisor Louis Cayer and former coach Jane O’Donoghue, has been without a coach since April after axeing Torben Beltz.

It remains to be seen whether Tursunov is the coach to help Raducanu find her form after a difficult season.

He has previously coached Aryna Sabalenka and Anett Kontaveit on the WTA Tour, helping the latter to a career-high of world number five before their split in June.

Raducanu has struggled with form and injury since her unexpected victory at Flushing Meadows, when she became the first qualifier, male or female, to win a Grand Slam.

She has not reached a final on the WTA Tour since, but still rose up to world number 10 despite a second-round Wimbledon exit to Caroline Garcia.

She became the fifth British woman to achieve the feat since the rankings were introduced, following in the footsteps of Virginia Wade, Sue Barker, Jo Durie and most recently, Johanna Konta.