RAD and DAD
SO PROUD OF U... TENNIS SENSATION EMMA ARRIVES HOME TO A HUG FROM HER DAD
EMMA RADUCANU was finally reunited with her proud family yesterday... five days after making sporting history by winning the US Open.
The tennis star arrived at their home in Bromley, south-east London, in a black Range Rover – with police escort and security guards – where her dad Ian was waiting to give her a hug.
He and her mother had been unable to fly to New York to watch Emma’s triumph because of the Covid travel restrictions. The 18-year-old is the first British woman to win a major title for 44 years, and the first qualifier in history to lift a Grand Slam.
‘It’s a great feeling to be home,’ Emma said. ‘I’ve been away for seven weeks so it’s nice to be back.’
As for celebrating with friends, she said she hadn’t yet decided what to do, adding: ‘I haven’t thought of anything. I’m just enjoying it and relaxing and recovering. We will make some plans.’
Her father, who works in the finance sector, said he was relieved to have her back and hugged his daughter as they posed for photographers. Her mother, Renee, was thought to have been at home, but stayed inside. Emma is now on course to become the highest-earning female sports star of all time after earning £1.8million – more than eight times her total previous career earnings – for her historic win on Saturday.
TENNIS
FAME and fortune will not harm Emma Raducanu’s chances of continuing her remarkable rise to the top of her sport, insists the Lawn Tennis Association’s chief executive.
Scott Lloyd has called for the newly crowned US Open champion to be given ‘breathing space’ following a whirlwind two weeks which saw her bank a £1.8million winner’s cheque and tread the red carpet at New York’s Met Gala.
She arrived back home in Bromley yesterday coming to terms with life as a global sporting superstar, and knows her scheduled return to the court in Indian Wells early next month is set to generate an extraordinary degree of scrutiny.
Lloyd said: ‘Obviously on the back of New York, Emma’s life outside the court has been turned upside-down but she is a very grounded person with great values and a great family behind her.
‘From an LTA perspective, guiding not just Emma but all our postscholarship players through this transition to the professional game is a part of what we do.
‘It will take some adjustment and she will need some breathing space. There will be some bumps in the road, and there will be times next year when she is going to have a target on her back and will have to get used to that.
‘Like everybody in top-level sport, she may have some difficulties in sustaining this level of performance but she has shown she has the capability to go on and do that.’