Jawad Iqbal Jawad Iqbal

The tragedy of Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu has struggled to match her US Open-winning form (Getty Images)

It is hard not to feel a teeny weeny bit sorry for Emma Raducanu, who was hailed as the next big thing in tennis after her fairytale win in the 2021 US Open. She was just 18 when she won at Flushing Meadows, a Grand Slam triumph achieved only three months after she finished her A-levels. It prompted breathless talk of her being a once-in-a-generation tennis superstar – a British Serena Williams, no less.

How absurd all this sounds just three years later: Raducanu now makes most of her money from commercial endorsements rather than winning the big tennis tournaments. It is a sporting tragedy of sorts. The sense of a great sporting potential so far unfulfilled casts a cloud over everything else, including the millions in sponsorship deals that have come her way since she burst on to the scene.

The future always looks bright and each comeback, such as last night’s, is treated as the real deal

How rich is Raducanu? She set up her company Harbour 6 Ltd in 2020, and is the sole director and only employee.

Written by
Jawad Iqbal

Jawad Iqbal is a broadcaster and ex-television news executive. Jawad is a former Visiting Senior Fellow in the Institute of Global Affairs at the LSE

Topics in this article

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in