£17.8m earned in one amazing year, but don’t expect US Open repeat from Raducanu
Last september Emma Raducanu stunned the sporting world by emerging from qualifying to win the Us Open at the age of 18 without dropping a set — barely four months after completing her a-levels. since then she has faced a year that, as was always likely, has been very challenging. there have been setbacks, some mis-steps, plus glimpses of how she managed to pull off such an extraordinary feat in the first place. Here, Sportsmail looks at a year lived in the blazing spotlight.
WHERE SHE STANDS NOW
RADUCANU, now 19, enters the Us Open ranked world No 11 but faces a huge drop if she goes out early. she would fall to somewhere around No 80 if she lost in the first round to french veteran alize Cornet. In the past year, she has won 15 matches and lost 18, which includes three retirements. the highest ranked player she has beaten since the Open is No 22 victoria azarenka.
Perhaps the truest reflection of her playing level is in the Wta ‘Race’, based on results garnered purely in 2022. While this does not suggest she has trained on much since flushing Meadows, there are only three fellow teenagers above her in this list. Had she lost early in the Us Open a year ago, this might be considered respectable, if unspectacular, progress if Wimbledon 2021 was taken as a starting point.
COACHING
WHEN Raducanu made the announcement, last september, that she would not be extending her partnership with andrew Richardson after their incredible success together in the Us, it caused a collective jaw-drop around the tennis world. Given that her life was undergoing remarkable upheaval, a period of stability on the coaching front would surely have been preferable, whatever her concerns about his lack of experience at elite Wta level.
She quickly discovered that she had made a mistake in appointing German torben Beltz later in 2021, and it was no surprise when he was dispensed with in april.
There then followed a mix-andmatch policy, using veteran doubles guru Louis Cayer among others as a consultant, along with the Lawn tennis association’s Iain Bates, plus good friend and former Lta coach Jane O’Donoghue around Wimbledon. the results hardly bear out that this policy has been a success as she learns to navigate the upper reaches of the tour.
Last month, Sportsmail revealed that she had taken on Us-based Russian Dmitry tursunov. the early outlook has been promising, although there are potential logistical problems (see below).
FITNESS AND PHYSIQUE
AFTER winning in New York, she rightly pointed out that she had much catching up to do on the physical front. Many of her peers have been able to dedicate themselves more to training in their teen years while she was preoccupied with finishing her education. It has therefore been strange, given the financial resources at her disposal, that she has not assembled a high- class and permanent fitness team around her to oversee what was always going to be a long-term process.
There has been more mix-andmatch in this area. three retirements, plus regular calls on court for tour physios to administer running repairs, do not suggest that this has been a success either.
However, there has been some bad luck too, with an untimely bout of Covid before Christmas messing up plans to do full off-season training block. that has contributed to some of the mediocre results and there are signs that, as with coaching, she is now addressing this.
SCHEDULING
RADUCANU could have wrapped up the season after New York last year to concentrate on training, but it was decided to get some of the hype out of the way by playing a few tournaments late last year.
There was some logic to this, and she was never going to meet the stratospheric expectations of the millions suddenly following her every move after the events which took place on the arthur ashe stadium.
Having never played on clay at the highest level, it was right not to duck the unique challenges of the brown dirt in the spring, and her results on the surface were encouraging.
Suffering a side strain early in the grass- court season was another unfortunate blow, emphasising the need for her to build up physical resilience.
ENDORSEMENTS AND DISTRACTIONS
THE unlikely figure of England rugby supremo Eddie Jones set the ball rolling when he made pointed remarks about the amount of sponsorships Raducanu was taking on back in October. With commercial offers flooding in via her management company, IMG, Raducanu has accepted plenty of them and made herself financially secure for life.
Only yesterday she was listed as sixth on the Forbes rich tennis list, having earned a total of £17.8million, £15.2m of that with commercial endorsements off the court. this has not sat comfortably alongside her unspectacular results and the wider public have certainly noticed, denting some of her initial popularity. those close to her have not reported any slacking in her work ethic but, going forward, there could be tensions between her tennis and endorsement obligations. IMG, whose contract with her is shortly up for renewal, are adamant that servicing them will be restricted to 18 days per year and that the whole process is being planned with military precision.
After New York, much was made about how Raducanu would be affected by media attention. this side of the job has been handled with a fair amount of aplomb, showing herself to be mature and articulate, as well as polite. It is the equation between results and commercial activity which will be more of a concern going forward.
FUTURE PROSPECTS
EvEN after a year in the spotlight, Raducanu and her camp were taken aback by some of the
outrage from politicians when it emerged that she was taking on Tursunov, born in russia.
There was no doubt, after Wimbledon, that her game looked to have lost some of its identity. She was overpowered in the second round at SW19 by Caroline Garcia, losing in straight sets. Tursunov has been hired to restore some of her aggression after adding pop to the games of previous clients such as anett Kontaveit and Aryna Sabalenka.
The initial results have been encouraging, especially the serve and forehand in her victories over Serena Williams and Victoria azarenka last week in Cincinnati.
Tursunov may turn out to be a good fit. a worry, however, is that with the ongoing situation in ukraine, he might not be able to gain visas to work in certain countries, particularly those which have taken a strong stance on the war such as the UK. He has lived in US since the age of 12, far longer than he has lived in his native land, but is believed to still travel on a russian passport, hence potential difficulties.
There seems little doubt that, to maximise her considerable potential, raducanu requires more stability around her. She is still only 19 with a long road ahead of her and, even in this difficult and unprecedented year, has given pop-up reminders that there is an unusual talent to be mined.
a lot could yet go wrong but, in time, she could yet replicate the breathtaking success of a year ago, although it is unlikely to be in this coming fortnight.
Something that is a near certainty — once this tournament, and the defence of her title, is over, there will be something of a release which should make life more straightforward.