If a key reason a professional tennis player participates in the sport is to try to make a lot of money, Emma Raducanu is a huge success. The issue is that she succeeds even while not accomplishing much on the court. Many might ask why.
In a new deal with Uniqlo, a large apparel retailer, Raducanu will be making more money than she does with on-court winnings. According to Tennis365, the Brit will earn $3.5 million each year from the endorsement. Raducanu has never made that much in a single year playing tennis.
The most she made was in 2021, when she earned $2,807,446, mostly because she won the US Open. The most she earned in every season of her eight-year career, other than one, was $696,277. So, again, the question one could ask is, why does any brand pay the No. 1-ranked Brit top money?
Emma Raducanu keeps succeeding off the court while failing on the court
Others deserve more, of course, at least based on how well they play their sport. Tennis can get a bit complicated on the women's side when brands pay players like Anna Kournikova lots of money because of the way they look rather than the way they play. The same issue doesn't apply at the same level of the men's game. The whole situation is a bit, well...gross.
This isn't to say Emma Raducanu is in any way gross; only the way of doing business can be. She has only won one title in her career and reached only one other final. Yet, she keeps making large amounts of cash in endorsements despite a lack of success in her real job.
Should she be blamed for accepting endorsement money? No. She is 23 years old and trying to make generational wealth early in her life. Why should she be blamed for attempting to do so, as many other people would do the same? The issue is that her financial success is an example of what is wrong with the system.
Companies tend to pay players who have a high number of social media followers because they understand more people will see their merchandise. If that person has a pretty face or says outlandish things and gets them noticed, the companies don't care about how good they are at tennis or any other sport.
The problem is that the level of off-court success isn't even and not fair. Raducanu should have to earn her way a bit more by winning tennis tournaments. At least Kournikova was good at doubles (she won 16 titles). One should rightly wonder if Emma Raducanu will ever win another title in her career.