Emma Raducanu blasts tennis ‘sharks’ who see ‘her as their piggy bank’ since breakthrough in US Open

Tennis star Emma Raducanu has branded the women’s tour ‘completely brutal’, describing it as ‘not a very nice, trusting and safe space’.

In an excoriating assessment of the way young players are treated she blasted the way ‘sharks’ in the industry have seen her as their ‘piggy bank’ since her breakthrough in the US Open two years ago.

Since her shock win in the major tournament, Ms Raducanu has signed multi-million-pound sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike, Tiffany & Co, British Airways and Vodafone. She told The Sunday Times: ‘I had to mature very quickly. When I won I was extremely naive. What I have realised in the past two years, the tour and everything that comes with it, it’s not a very nice, trusting and safe space.

‘You have to be on guard because there are a lot of sharks out there. I think people in the industry, especially with me because I was 19, now 20, they see me as a piggy bank.

‘It has been difficult to navigate. I have been burnt a few times. I have learnt, keep your circle as small as possible.’

GLAMOROUS: Tennis star Emma Raducanu

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Emma Raducanu in action against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia in her first-round match at the Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart on April 18, in Stuttgart, Germany

Ms Raducanu said her experience had also been tarnished by a series of injuries – she is recovering from three operations – and the pain escalated after last year’s Wimbledon. ‘I was struggling with the physical pain but the mental side of it was really difficult for me, too,’ she said.

‘If I lost a match, I would be really down. I was under so much pressure to perform, people had no idea what was going on and I had to have this facade. I am very young and still learning and making mistakes. It is a lot harder when you are making mistakes in front of everyone… the tour is completely brutal.’

Despite her experiences, the past two years have brought Raducanu personal happiness – she has developed a close friendship with former Harrow head boy Carlo Agostinelli, 22.

They are believed to have met when she became Dior’s ‘global ambassador’ and was introduced to the company’s Paris head of public relations Mathilde Favier – Carlo’s mother.