Emma Raducanu did not need much encouragement this week to talk about the growing web of her commercial involvement. As a member of the social media generation, she is very familiar with the offensive comments that welcome any new sponsorship announcement. And when she said that the reactions were “unfair”, and the narration “misleading”, she clearly took her frustrations out of her chest. The timing of Porsche’s announcement this week, just days before Raducanu’s three-hour defeat by Katerina Siniakova, was particularly unfortunate. “Look at the ads and the product placement,” said one critic after losing the three sets. Others asked if Raducanu had arrived on the field with tired hands, having spent a lot of time posing behind the wheel. At least, that’s a problem of perception. Winning 10 of the first 11 Grand Slam games, including the US Open title in September, Raducanu set a level of expectations that few 19-year-olds had ever faced. Then, when the results slip away from it – as they did quickly from its achievement in New York – all of these approvals offer an obvious angle of attack. It does not come only from armchair critics. Around the tournaments, you hear the same comments from coaches and actors. (Even though some of these agents are probably annoyed that they are not the ones who trust Raducanu’s account.) There is only one way to break this relentless chain of logic. Raducanu’s best defense is attack. Or, at least, success on the field. With a bunch of wins acting as proof of improvement – and preferably one or two high-profile scalps – the chorus of disapproval will change from fortissimo to sotto voce. It is a privilege and a curse of Raducanu to live under a magnifying glass. An explosive player who gave almost impossible results at a young age, has fascinated millions with her playful appearance and natural, unaffected behavior. Increasingly, however, these followers are being offset by an army of skeptics and negatives.
The teenager is still adjusting to the nomadic life of a tennis player
Name the tall poppy syndrome. The pattern is familiar. Other young women have had surprisingly early successes – think of Jelena Ostapenko, Bianca Andreescu or Sofia Kenin – before leaving the discussion unexpectedly. These gifted teenagers started out as meteors, before trying to create a normal orbit within the sport. Unfortunately, collision landings are just as common. One factor that suggests that Raducanu can escape such a fate is its self-awareness, which is unusually well developed for its age. During this week’s interviews, she was remarkably honest about the physical deficiencies that plagued her throughout the year. She was not disappointed when she was told that she ran out of gas too often. “In my Indian Wells games,” he replied, “I would start very strong, and then I’m dead for the second set and then I fight for my life in the third set. Three good weeks in New York will not exceed the years of hard work done by the other players. I train hard, I put in the hours and I just have to gain more volume and more capacity. ” An accurate and precise analysis was made here. Would it be possible for someone capable of such an honest self-assessment to take their eyes off the ball? It is true that Raducanu’s expanding portfolio of deals does not look good. And it is also true that devoting three or four days a quarter to photography – which was her assessment this week – is already heavy. In the short term, however, there are other factors behind Raducanu’s recent lack of results. A few days of photography may be awkward, but not as annoying as Covid’s fight, which eliminated three weeks of off-season training. Six months after lifting the giant silver cup at the US Open, Raducanu is still in increasing pain, still adapting to the nomadic life of a tennis player. We must be careful not to judge it too early.
