Emma Raducanu hits out at ‘misleading’ coverage of her multi-million sponsorship deals after crashing out of Miami Open
EMMA RADUCANU responded to the “misleading” and “unfair” criticism of her big-money sponsorship deals – by insisting tennis remains her No1 priority.
The British superstar teen, 19, has penned deals with Tiffany & Co, Dior, British Airways, Evian and Vodafone worth millions of pounds since her fairytale in New York in September.
And on Monday the US Open champion and petrol head unveiled her latest commercial partner, luxury car brand Porsche.
But on the court she has suffered from a string of difficult defeats, losing eight of her 12 matches after the miracle run in New York – although has struggled with Covid and various injuries.
The latest came at Miami Open this week at the hands of Czech ace Katerina Siniakova, who came through 3-6 6-4 7-5.
Raducanu was on the receiving end of some difficult coverage highlighting the rise in sponsorships – and as a result a commitment to a number of commercial obligations.
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But Bromley hero Rads, who is ranked 13th in the world, defended herself and hit back defiantly.
She said: “Maybe you just see, on the news or on social media, me signing this or that deal and I feel like it’s quite misleading because I’m doing five, six hours a day [of training], I’m at the club for 12 hours a day.
“But I throw out one post in the car on the way to practice and all of a sudden it’s, ‘I don’t focus on tennis’.
“I think that it is unfair but it’s something I have learned to deal with and become a bit more insensitive to the outside noise.
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“At the end of the day, I feel like my days [with sponsors] are pretty limited.
“I’m not doing crazy days. I’m doing three, four days every quarter, so it’s really not that much.”
Raducanu’s hard-court swing is done for now following early exits in Indian Wells and Miami – enabling her to enjoy some down time at a Miami Heat NBA match.
Her focus will now turn to the clay, a surface on which she has never played a professional match.
The teenager is scheduled to represent Great Britain at the team tennis Billie Jean King Cup against the Czech Republic before appearing at April’s Stuttgart Open, a tournament supported by Porsche.