Emma Raducanu strain mounting as McEnroe fears Brit’s profession will nosedive
Emma Raducanu is “under pressure from sponsors” as she bids to keep away from being a “one-Slam wonder”, John McEnroe has claimed. The 2021 US Open champion has struggled since her gorgeous New York triumph and can miss Wimbledon after present process wrist and ankle surgical procedures.
McEnroe grew to become an instantaneous celebrity when he gained his first Major title aged 20 on the 1979 US Open. Raducanu, now 20, has signed offers with Nike, Tiffany, HSBC, Porsche, Evian, Dior and Vodaphone to take her estimated earnings final 12 months to £22m.
Asked how Raducanu ought to deal with all of the off-court strain, the seven-time Grand Slam winner mentioned: “I am not sure I’m the right guy to ask in a way because it was driving me pretty crazy. Some of mine was self-inflicted whereas I don’t really see her as being that way.
“She has been through a lot of coaches and obviously her family is going to be involved in these decisions.
“She’s a kid. And there are people around her and they make decisions only from the standpoint of athletes being pretty superstitious. I didn’t know she had been linked with (American coach) Rick Macci.
“Obviously, that’s going to be six months down the road I’m assuming because she’s out I think for the rest of the year.
“I remember a guy like Don Budge and some of the older greats would take six months off to work on their game.
“They had that luxury then because there were only six or eight tournaments.
“Emma’s under a lot more pressure from sponsors and just her ranking and how that all works to get back sooner.
“Look, she’s won a Major which 99 per cent of players or more can’t say, but you don’t want to be that one-hit wonder either.
“So this is going to be a long road back in a way because she has to start over in a way.”
John McEnroe is a part of the BBC’s Wimbledon 2023 line-up. Catch all of the motion throughout BBC TV, radio and on-line from Monday July 3.