Max Eisenbud has spoken out about speculation that sponsorship deals are putting too much pressure on
Emma Raducanu.
Following her win at the 2021
US Open at just 18 years old, Raducanu shot to fame almost overnight. In doing so, she not only gained a lot of fans and media attention but also a huge increase in sponsorship offers.
However, the Brit has struggled to re-gain the form that helped her to achieve her only Grand Slam title thus far, and a string of injuries and coaching changes have now seen her drop out of the top 100 in the
WTA world rankings.
This season she was defeated in the second round of the Australian Open by Coco Gauff, before being forced to withdraw from
Wimbledon following surgery on her wrists and ankle.
Eisenbud defends sponsorship deals
Max Eisenbud, who is Raducanu's agent and head of clients at IMG Tennis, clarified that the 20-year-old's drop in form was not caused by the pressure of too many sponsorship deals, as some fans had speculated.
Speaking to The Tennis Podcast, Eisenbud said that 'Our job is to educate' clients such as Raducanu on the deals available to them, and that there would be no point in burdening the tennis star with too many brands,
"I know, people want to say that the narrative – that IMG is bringing in all this money and making them take deals. Like, we are a pretty well-established company. We are not living and dying on a commission for Emma Raducanu. Our lights are going to stay on in the office," he said.
He then added that IMG wants what's best for its clients,
"We could have done a hundred deals. A hundred, okay? And she could be doing deals, and deals, and deals. They left millions and millions of dollars on the table.
"We don’t need that. We want to try to do the best thing for the client, and so, we have the client for a long time."
Eisenbud says pressure comes from within
Going on to speak about why the former world No. 10 might actually be feeling pressured, Eisenbud claimed it stems from Raducanu's desire to win again, not from the brands sponsoring her,
"I know people want to say, ‘Oh. The pressure. She’s got the pressure.’ I think the pressure she has is that she won a great tournament. She wants that feeling again, and she wants to keep winning. I don’t think she is waking up and being like, ‘Oh my God, HSBC is mad."
In fact, he went as far as to add that sponsors "couldn't have been more supportive even through the injury."
