Emma Raducanu teaches tennis lesson from 4,000 miles away
Emma Raducanu ends 2023 as the fourth-highest-paid women athlete despite only entering five events, after earning almost £13 million in endorsements. The 2021 US Open champion played just nine matches this year before undergoing hand and foot surgery in May.
Raducanu, 21, was due to return for an exhibition match in Macau earlier this month but withdrew in November as her recovery continues. That effectively ended her season, meaning she has made only £189,000 from tennis prize mooney in 2023.
That lack of time on the court has significantly affected how much she has earned from Nike for wearing their clothing and shoes this year. Her deal with the brand is said to pay her £1.2million when meeting their minimum play requirements.
However, signing several other endorsement deals after winning at Flushing Meadows has kept her among the highest-paid women athletes in the world. Raducanu has sizeable sponsorship deals with British Airways, Christian Dior, Evian, HSBC, Porsche, Vodafone and Tiffany.
Follow us on X for the best and latest in sports news
Don’t miss…
Emma Raducanu leaves more questions than answers after returning to tennis court[LATEST]
Raducanu’s ex-coach criticised after splitting from fourth player in 18 months[LATEST]
Raducanu plots Australian Open comeback as star appears on list with a catch[LATEST]
Sportico estimates that those partnerships netted her almost £13 million in 2023. According to their yearly rankings, only American-born Chinese freestyle skier Eileen Gu earned more from endorsements over the last 12 months.
That sees the three-time Olympic medalist sit third above Raducanu among 2023’s highest-paid sportswomen. Gu is the only one of the top eight who is not a tennis player.
Above her in second is Iga Swiatek, who topped the season-long WTA rankings and earned more prize money than any other women athlete this year. But taking the top spot is Coco Gauff, who makes the same as Raducanu from sponsors while raking in significantly more from her play on the court.
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
Despite it not holding the American back, her British counterpart has previously come in for criticism due to how many commercial commitments she has. That has led to her agent, Max Eisenbud, defending those decisions earlier this year.
He claimed that Raducanu could earn much more from endorsements. “In Emma’s situation, we could have done 100 deals,” he told The Tennis Podcast.
“She could be doing deals and deals and deals; they [IMG] left millions and millions of dollars on the table; they strategically took the best brands with the most limited time, the brands that understood that it was going to be a rocky road.
“None of her sponsors have ever called up and been like ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe she’s not winning!’. No one. I know people want to say ‘the pressure, she’s got the pressure’, I think the pressure she has is that she won a great tournament, and she wants that feeling again, and she wants to keep winning.”
He continued: “The sponsors couldn’t have been more supportive, even through the injury.” Raducanu now has her sights set on the ASB Classic in Auckland after receiving a wildcard into the tournament that starts on January 1.
Source: Read Full Article
