Happy but worried for Emma Raducanu

[JackieWeaverHandforthCouncil]

Maybe I’m getting old and jaded but although I’m so so happy for Emma I have a sinking feeling and worry for her.

She’s the nations darling today but my experience of the British press is that she should enjoy this phase while it lasts. The minute she falters, says anything socially positive a dodgy tweet the right wing press will call her ‘woke!’, there’ll be a ‘Twitter storm!’. She’ll suddenly no longer be British she’ll be Chinese, Canadian, Romanian.

On the Guardian side they will beat people over the head with articles about her being a minority and a woman.

All this alongside tabloids trying to get dodgy ‘Pwoar! Tennis beauty!’ shots. Digging up old boyfriends from school.

I have PMT which is probably why I’m feeling like this but her rise has been so quick and stratospheric and I don’t trust our media to treat her as the incredibly talented, professional and very young woman she is.

She seemed so fragile at Wimbledon, and the media pressure had clearly worked its way into her head.

I'd be very worried as well as very proud if I were her parents. It's a huge weight to carry on your shoulders. Hopefully she's got a good team around her who will support and protect her.

Good grief you post drips with the behaviour you're apparently worried about

Yanbu. She is so young and innocent and my first thought when I read the headline was how she might be affected long-term by all of the attention and sudden fame.

I find the fawning of the male press over her quite icky.

I really want more (much, much more) attention given to (biological) sportsWOmen rather than someone getting about 1/8 of a page of a 24 page sports supplement at the weekend, but it's really over the top.

‘Good grief you post drips with the behaviour you're apparently worried about.’

That’s not true at all. It’s my lived experience of how the British press treat people who do well in this country. She will be under incredible pressure not to put a foot wrong. She is only 18. They are vicious.

I think the media attention is something anyone thrust suddenly into the public eye needs to contend with. I'm sure the team around her are aware and advising accordingly. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion that she will be criticised or turned on at all, and think the morning after her incredible performance is a little soon to be fretting about it, let's be 'glass half full' for at least a day.

The British press love to build people up and then knock them down if they falter in any way.
Hopefully she has a lot of support and training in how to handle the press.

I actually think the next generation like her, who have grown up with social media are much better equipped to deal with it than the previous ones.

What an absolutely bizarre post. Dumbing down a woman’s achievement to a set of abstract, imagined scenarios. If any of that happens, she will need to deal with it - it’s called life. The more high profile you are, more help you have to do so.

I agree with a pp that by making a public post about it you are part of the pressure. Yanbu to see the pattern and to forsee the horrible behaviour of people and the press, but if we robustly celebrate her sporting achievement and don't create some false narrative about mental fragility and oppression then we can move forward. Well done Emma.

Your post is actually part of the problem you pretend to be worried about, all this concern you express just when it’s actually none of your business will just encourage comments.

I agree with pp this narrative in your post is part of it

Most are just celebrating her success

I think to some extent it is inevitable. But I do think the younger generation are more vocal about challenging these things. Both parts of the press right & left won't come out of this shining - I'm already seeing posts about her being what 'Britain represents' i.e. her background & heritage. It's all very tedious esp the jokes about Priti Patel not deporting her.

Agree with pps.
Most people today are celebrating the success of a sportswoman who has excelled in her field.
The OP is bizarre. It comes across as faux concern with a hint of gleeful hand-rubbing tbh.

The irony...

Bloody hell. She's probably still asleep after that achievement and the doom mongering has started already...

She's a smart cookie - she changed her coach after Wimbledon.

I agree that every word she speaks , or every post she puts on social media etc, will be scrutinized and the pressure on her for Wimbledon next year will be immense too.
I hope that the press back off a bit but we all know they won't and the trolls and the haters will be out in force , sadly :(
I hope she is able to grow a think skin and able to deal with it all. Her parents seem very supportive , so that is a plus.

And then to make the excuse that you ‘PMT’ in your opening statement. It’s basically like saying, ‘I know and I am being sexist and unreasonable and not I am going to be even be more sexist and use PMT to excuse my weird post’. PMT is used as a way to lower the bar for women and make them out to be irrational, hormonal, cognitively inferior.

Dunno I think she’ll be ok. Elite sportspeople have spent years playing under extreme pressure and to get to the very top takes such grit and resilience, by default she’ll have calm inner strength. She’ll also have good people around her helping her.

People like her will be so focused on the game and season, she’ll already be planning her next open and not worrying too much about the periphery. Tennis is her life.

Putting aside the specific wording of the OP I had exactly the same thought

The pressure of suddenly being thrust into the world's spotlight is a huge thing for anyone of any age to deal with

I'm surprised at the posts above, are you all rushing to pile on the OP rather than seeing that there's quite a serious point here

I really hope she's mentally strong enough to withstand all the attention she'll get and enjoy her success. There are increasing numbers of sports people now having to take mental health breaks.

Why can't the op express a fear when it's so well known that anyone remotely famous has it harder these days because of social media?
Some of the comments about her on the daily Mail website were awful , I know that are sad little trolls, but if I read things like that about myself or my family I would be upset at just how nasty and vindictive and jealous some people can be about every little thing. It'll be even harder because her family were immigrants.
She will have to put up with that obvious hatred on a daily basis too.

The brits put people on a pedestal then love knocking them down again too.
I hope she can deal with the pressures.

She is incredibly resilient. She’s made of ‘stuff’ that we could only dream of. Mentally she has come under immense pressure playing the game. The media can do all they want she had an amazing team around her - she (and Leylah - I’ve seen she’s been called a petulant teen this morning already) need to shut out that shit

She’s very clearly an extremely talented and intelligent (recent A* at A level maths case in point!) young woman. In the interviews I’ve seen of her she’s come across as very level headed and seems to have really good people around her. I also don’t think the British press are anywhere near as vicious any more (mail probably an exception).

She's a young woman who is currently riding in the crest of a wave. We all know that there are plenty of people who will cut her down at their first opportunity. It's a part of the journey that she may not be prepared for and it damages some people.

We have no idea how vulnerable or resilient she will be to that. We can only hope that the team around her are savvy enough to know that she needs protecting and are able to do it.

It's not just the press these days though. It's Facebook, Twitter , the internet in general that makes any kind of fame hard.
She will need to block out a lot of it and that won't be easy.
I really hope they leave her alone , but deep down I know they probably won't especially now there will be this ' grudge ' with Fernandez already emerging , because the press love rivals and putting one up against another, especially women.