Emma Raducanu has made a living off of shockingly winning the 2021 US Open. She didn't have to defeat a top-10-ranked player on her way to the title, but she still did something no other player did in New York that year: Beat anyone who was on the other side of the net from her.
The hope was that the teenage Brit would turn into one of the "next big things" in tennis. She played with emotion and had more than a touch of natural charisma. She might help fill the void between Serena Williams no longer dominating the sport and the next great generation.
She couldn't. In fact, she had only made one final in her career until this week, and that was the US Open. Many fans still seem to give her a pass on her undistinguished career by pointing to her Grand Slam victory, but that was more than four years ago. At some point, she has to consistently improve.
Boris Becker dismisses Emma Radcanu's level of tennis success
After she recently made the semifinal at the Transylvania Open, tennis journalist Jose Morgado tweeted that it was the fifth time in Raducanu's career she had reached the semis at an event. Tennis great Boris Becker didn't miss the tweet and offered a fairly brutal reply.
Becker wrote, "That's it?"
His response gets complicated. He often comments on the sport, so his observation about Emma Raducanu isn't completely out of nowhere. Still, what he said did seem overly harsh. While the Brit hasn't reached a sustained high level of success, making five semifinals is a few more than many other players will ever achieve.
The other side is that, financially, Raducanu appears to have made far more money off one victory in her career from endorsements than many other players will ever make. She is presented as one of the faces of tennis, even though many other players are far more successful on the court. The money being made is not fair based on the results it took to achieve financial success.
Of course, that could all change for Emma Raducanu. While she was bounced out of the Australian Open in the second round and split with her coach of just six months, she has now reached the second final of her career.
She won her semifinal match at the Transylvania Open against Oleksandra Oliynykova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. She will next play third-seed Sorana Cirstea or Daria Snigur in the final.