Wimbledon: Emma Raducanu "doesn't allow himself to be distracted by commercial interests
Written byTimes Magazine
Max Eisenbud, who has also overseen the careers of Maria Sharapova and Li Na, said Radukanu's win in New York sparked unprecedented interest in the corporate world. And he claims his company IMG "saved millions of dollars off the table" by limiting Raducanu to a maximum of 18 sponsorship days a year.
"We can shoot for 50 days," Eisenbud said on a podcast on The Sports Desk. "I've never seen so much excitement and company wanting to do business with Emma after the US Open." Contracts have three to five years and are worth tens of millions of pounds.
However, Raducanu's year on the field was less favorable. The 19-year-old has won just eight of his 19 games this season, picking up a series of minor injuries in the process. But Eisenbud said people should not attribute these difficulties to their commercial interests.
"It's been a tough year," he admits. "I think he was very unlucky, and what hurt him was contracting Covid and not having a great season, and then he caught up. "But I think if there weren't a shooting date, everything would be the same.
"I can tell from the outside that you want to see all this stuff - but if he locks himself in his room all year and does nothing, I think that's how it's going to be."
Eisenbud said this was his third work experience in something "spectacular, special and abnormal." The other two were 17-year-old Sharapova, who beat Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final. Lee was watched by an estimated 116 million Chinese viewers as she won her first Grand Slam title at the 2011 French Open.
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