Winning the US Open in 2021 was an important career moment for Emma Raducanu, not just in tennis terms but also financially, as it removed any financial stress on her career.
Both Raducanu's parents are working professionals, which created conditions in which she could pursue her dream of becoming a tennis player. Even so, tennis is a costly sport, and like most players, Raducanu experienced financial stress while trying to find her way.
That's why her US Open win proved such a huge blessing for her. Not only did it spectacularly catapult her tennis career, but it also removed any financial stress she had about it.
It's certainly not the norm because, as she explained to Tennis Magazin in a recent interview, most tennis players will have a gradual rise if it ever comes. Her rise was sudden and in front of the whole world, so her learning experience was under a microscope.
Now, she is slowly finding her way and learning lessons, but doing so in front of so many eyeballs can be really challenging. Generally for most people, the work comes first, and then come the results.
In her case, it was the opposite. Of course, she did a lot of work before breaking out, but the breakout came only a few months into her career. She first showed her talent at Wimbledon, making the fourth round, and then two months later, she was lifting the US Open trophy.
"I'm finding my way and learning lessons. I'm learning how to handle certain situations, how to react to them. I'm learning all of this in front of the world, which is not the case for most young adults. For most young people, the learning process usually comes first, then the results follow."
It was a huge blessing and a huge boost to her tennis career in many ways, especially financially, as for most tennis players, that's the most challenging part early into their careers.
"In my case, there was a huge result with the US Open title, which I then had to learn from in retrospect. Ultimately, I see this as a blessing. Most tennis players struggle financially early in their careers."
"My US Open title gave me the fortunate position of not having that financial stress anymore. It also gave me access to many leaders and many partnerships that I now have."
Her career hasn't been as fruitful since then due to various injuries, but winning the US Open at such a young age opened so many opportunities for her that she still got to experience a lot.
Now at 21, Raducanu hopes to get her career back on track, but she's very grateful and happy about how things have gone so far.
"I was able to see first hand how they work with their leadership skills. I was able to have so many life experiences at such a young age that some people who are in their 40s or midlife have never experienced. In this respect, I am very grateful and happy."