Emma Radecanu - flash in the pan?

[mids2019]

The US open win and millions in sponsorship....a future British sporting star....

However now does Emma have to seriously look at whether tennis glory is going to be within her reach again?

Is it good for mental health to continuously justify her performance to a varacious press? Was accepting huge sponsorship deals after the US open a mistake in hindsight?

Should Emma possibly looking at new generation of British tennis players maybe think applying to Oxford or a US elite uni would be the most fulfilling life option for her? End on a high with millions in the bank and the promise of a stimulating new career path?

What?

Is ChatGPT not able to write tabloid headlines at present?

72nd in the world.

I just feel there is bit of a backlash against her with the Andy Murray thing and she is no longer seen as one of the bright young things of the British sporting world.

Of course she still can earn a lot of money with tennis but at what point so people start to think another open is out of reach? She might me able to scale tennis heights again but when?

Fluke and rude.

Do you not realise she had surgery on an ankle and both wrists last year. She has played better this year but needs more match play. It is so easy to criticise her but winning slams is very difficult. Most tennis players never win a slam.

@JanglingJack my words exactly !!!!

Constant health issues and pressure to win have taken their toll. V.few at that level of sport have no issues either physically or with MH. You win big once and suddenly you are expected to keep winning. Only a handful eg Sampras, Federer, Navratilova or Graff have seemingly got thro it all. Federer was suffering physically when he retired. Becker and Agassi had their own stories.

That’s exactly how I describe Emma - a flash in the pan. And it’s nothing to do with Andy Murray.

Over-hyped, springs to my mind.

It's such a British thing to slate sports people.

Why should she give it up? Unless she wants to?

And why would she not accept the sponsorship when it was offered? Going on the tour isn't cheap and it is a short career generally so why not make the money when you can?

No argument she is a good tennis player and great in British terms. In terms of world tennis though it's a big ask for her achieve anything again from a slam perspective imo.

Someone listed some greats in tennis and Emma sadly may not be destined to be there.

I acknowledge the injuries but she just looks bloody miserable and maybe with money in the bank it might be a time to look to other ventures.

It possibly is better than being in her late 20s with a pitying media referring back to her one golden moment.

We slate our football all the time and in elite sport, yes, there is criticism. Why should Emma be immune?

This, what's probably gone wrong is her parents have celebrated her success on FB... all downhill from here! 😑

What's a slam?

I don't follow sport ( alas you can't avoid it) but she seemed overhyped to me and hasn't won anything much really as far as I am aware.

She won the US Open

No doubt she has enough in the bank to never work again but maybe she has to give thought to her career .....how many pitying pieces in the press can she bear and how many press conferences is she going to have to endure?

She just seems unhappy and possibly can't avoid the spotlight now which may have made her enjoy the game a bit more.

I also thinks she has missed opportunities to endear herself to the public. I don't know why but she's a sports personality that maybe lacks the personality. Fair enough that's not what you are getting paid for but when things aren't going well a bit of spark does help.

Surely that question should be the other way around though @mids2019 - sports people whether they be young footballers or tennis players don't create the environment (media/sponsorships etc) that they have to exist in. If i were a young sports person with potential and yet knowing my career was inherently precarious, why wouldn't you seek to give yourself some financial stablity as soon as possible?

Look at the way the press jumped on Raheem Sterling about his tattoo, carping on about him glamourising gun violence, getting a spokeswoman from Mothers Against Guns to speak out and call for him to be dropped from the England team without any of them speaking to him first.

As to her talent - I do think she had a fortituous win at the US Open but as the saying goes, you can only beat the opponent on the other side of the net and she did that. Her opponent, LF, in that final is ranked higher than ER at the moment but hasn't set Grand Slams alight (although has done better in doubles than singles I think). I don't particularly follow tennis but I do wonder whether we're in (as far as the women's game goes) as period of diffusion of winners as compared to periods of absolute dominance by the likes of Steffi Graff, or Serena etc.

There's clearly an issue with coaching for ER over the past couple of years - rumours of parental involvement too. But, again, its such an important, foundational relationship between coach and player that its not unusual to have to find your lobster so to speak!

You can't live on one victory forever. It's as success came too early and now comes the hangover (a long one).

To be fair, I'm sure a significant percentage of players would trade in a good handful of tour wins for 1 slam

She's only 21. Andy Murray didn't win a grand slam until he was 25. Give her time.

Has she spoken about wanting to go to Oxford or an elite US uni?

It's not that she should be immune - it's that maybe we need to look at our press and the absolute need to build sports people up and delight in knocking them down. It's absolutely horrible and it happens way too often.

And it then filters down to others. Why are you bothered if Emma stays on the tour? She should continue to play for as long as she wants to. It's a short enough career. She has been plagued with injury.

I just don't get the need to tear down someone just because they aren't living up to your expectations of them

Why as British as maple syrup?
Do elaborate?

@words a 'slam' refers to one of the big 4 tennis tournaments - US Open, Wimbledon, Australian Open and French Open. They are the pinnacle of tennis achievements. Players play on the 'tour' and progress on the tour impacts on their ranking and their access to the 'slams'. The slams are on different surfaces - grass at Wimbledon, clay at the French Open and therefore 'suit' different players in different ways. Only the very best will be successful on multi slam surfaces...

Ooh let's see how racist, misogynistic and just deeply unpleasant the wankers on here can be in one thread
yuk
won many grand slams yourself OP?