EMMA Raducanu has spent her time hopping from one media interview to another since her fairytale US Open triumph and how she deals with her new-found fame could be as important as her tennis skills for her long-term success.
The 18-year-old Briton stunned the world with her improbable run to the title last week, triggering comparisons with some of the greatest achievements in sport.
Her innocence, youthful exuberance and contagious smile have made Raducanu an instant hit with fans and the media and sports marketing experts believe she could become one of the world’s most marketable athletes.
Raducanu is not the first teenager to win a Grand Slam title, of course, and the experiences of other women who have made their breakthroughs on the game’s biggest stage in recent years illustrate that sudden fame can be a mixed blessing.
“I often say that we prepare how to deal with a loss, but we often don’t prepare for success,” Daria Abramowicz, a sports psychologist who works with Pole Iga Swiatek who won the French Open at the age of 19 last year, told Reuters.
“The biggest challenge from a psychological perspective as we consider high performance sports is to adapt and adjust to this new reality. . . in terms of partnership, sponsorship, business side of things.”
Swiatek’s French Open triumph was almost as stunning as Raducanu’s and she said it changed her life overnight, leaving her struggling to adjust to her celebrity status and keep up with the financial and media demands.
The most graphic example is that of Japan’s Naomi Osaka, who has been marked as the next dominant player in women’s sport since she announced herself on the big stage with her US Open triumph in 2018.
Still only 23, the four-time major champion has struggled with mental health issues she thinks were triggered by the massive burden of expectation on her.
Raducanu has experienced help at hand as she is managed by super-agent Max Eisenbud, who turned Maria Sharapova into the highest-earning female athlete after the Russian won Wimbledon aged 17.
Katie Spellman, who represents multiple major winners Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova, said her advice to Raducanu’s team would be to focus on quality over quantity in terms of media commitments.
