Emma Raducanu might not be on the hunt for a full-time coach, but she's enlisting the help of a trusted figure in Mark Petchey. The British No. 1 enjoyed a successful ad hoc partnership with Petchey last year, reaching quarter-finals in Miami and Queen's before pushing world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on her way to a tight, two-set defeat in the third round of Wimbledon.

However, Petchey's full-time role as a Tennis Channel commentator meant that he couldn't continue with Raducanu. The world No. 25 hired Francisco Roig, but they split amicably last month. Since then, Raducanu has been travelling with hitting partner Alexis Canter and physiotherapist Emma Stewart.

It's an arrangement Raducanu seems to enjoy, but the Brit is always happy to hear from a trusted, familiar face, and that's what she'll be doing with Petchey. According to The Times, he will be joining her in Indian Wells for the WTA 1000 tournament, which kicks off in California next Wednesday. It's currently not known whether he will continue helping beyond that.

Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as a Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

And Petchey already has plenty of ideas for Raducanu's game. Before she parted ways with Roig last month, the 23-year-old said she wasn't happy with the way she's been playing. "I think I want to be playing a different way, and I think the misalignment with how I'm playing right now and how I want to be playing is something that I just want to work on," she explained after losing in Melbourne.

It's something Petchey is aware of. The 55-year-old had been in touch with Raducanu during her recent run to the final in Cluj, and made it very clear that he had a specific game plan for the world No. 25, telling the Tennis Channel's Big T podcast that Raducanu "only has one choice" when it comes to what she's doing on the court.

While Petchey was encouraged by Raducanu's ability to rack up some wins at the Transylvania Open, he knew her tennis wasn't where she'd like it to be, and he had suggestions. "We've messaged a few times. I did watch her play. It was nice to see her get some wins, it was nice to see some confidence, it was nice to see the fight was back. She was playing the way she wants to play, that was something, I think, she felt that she had lost a little bit in recent times," he told co-host Andrea Petkovic.

"I think that, from my perspective, watching her play, she really only has one choice. She needs to stay up on the baseline, she needs to be able to redirect, and she needs to serve well. If she can put those components on the court, she is going to give herself the chance to win big matches.

"I thought she did well to kind of get through the draw. I don't necessarily feel as though her tennis was where it needed to be. I do think that she was suffering a little bit from health problems. But I think she's got a good three, four weeks of hard work to get her tennis back to where you would like to see her be, in terms of being able to challenge those big hitters, which has obviously been, in recent times, the stumbling block for her. And I think that there is still work to do to put that piece of the puzzle back together, so that she can feel very comfortable with what she's doing on the tennis court.

"So, as I say, it was a nice week for points, it was a nice week for confidence, to know that you can put back-to-back wins together. But I would think she will feel as though her tennis needs to go up quite a few gears if she's going to suddenly get back out on the court with Sabalenkas and [Elena] Rybakinas."

Petchey will now have the opportunity to properly impart that advice to Raducanu in Indian Wells and turn his words into actions on the practice courts. Canter is expected to continue working with the British No. 1 in California alongside Petchey, and the trusted, informal set-up seems a better arrangement for Raducanu right now, rather than bringing in a new voice for the long haul.

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page