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Emma Raducanu - US Open 2022

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Emma Raducanu ‘struggling’ to maintain commercial deals, says expert

Michael Graham
Michael Graham
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Emma Raducanu is in danger of losing her lucrative endorsements outside of tennis, according to one sports finance expert. Raducanu became one of the most sought-after talents in world sport on the back of her fairy tale US Open win in 2021, signing endorsement deals with the likes of British Airways and Tiffany almost immediately. However, those deals were signed due to on-court success and the profile that it brought, but the 22-year-old has struggled to play matches since due to a plethora of injury problems. That may well now put those deals in danger, says Dr Wilson, a professor of Applied Sports Finance at Sheffield Hallam University. “Emma Raducanu needs to be winning games to keep her commercial deals up,” Wilson told
OLBG. “Pretty much everything in terms of sponsorships in Raducanu’s case is between on court and off the court performance. “So you have to win matches in order to generate additional benefits off field sponsorships, commercial endorsements, influence on social media and so on to be relevant and have a relevant voice in that market that you are operating within.
“Where she was smart was where she signed some lengthy deals when she won the US Open. It wasn’t like [Darts player] Luke Littler who signed very short-term deals to maximise what was an iconic moment in darts. “But if she doesn’t start winning games, if she doesn’t go deep into tournaments, she is going to really struggle to renegotiate or renew any of those commercial endorsements and the career could be over pretty much in its infancy, which would be a crying shame because she’s a hugely talented individual and hugely marketable as well.” Raducanu remains incredibly marketable for now, though. Indeed, the Sportico Rich List placed her seventh among female athletes for 2024 – list once again dominated by tennis players. However, only $671k of her reported $14.7m earnings in the year came from tennis itself with the vast majority earned from the commercial deals she signed after the 2021 US Open win
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