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Emma Raducanu hits out at ‘misleading’ coverage of her multi-million sponsorship deals after crashing out of Miami Open

EMMA RADUCANU responded to the “misleading” and “unfair” criticism of her big-money sponsorship deals – by insisting tennis remains her No1 priority.

The British superstar teen, 19, has penned deals with Tiffany & Co, Dior, British Airways, Evian and Vodafone worth millions of pounds since her fairytale in New York in September.

Emma Raducanu has endured a tough time on the court since winning the US Open

The British star has just signed a deal with Porsche

And on Monday the US Open champion and petrol head unveiled her latest commercial partner, luxury car brand Porsche.

But on the court she has suffered from a string of difficult defeats, losing eight of her 12 matches after the miracle run in New York – although has struggled with Covid and various injuries.

The latest came at Miami Open this week at the hands of Czech ace Katerina Siniakova, who came through 3-6 6-4 7-5.

Raducanu was on the receiving end of some difficult coverage highlighting the rise in sponsorships – and as a result a commitment to a number of commercial obligations.

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But Bromley hero Rads, who is ranked 13th in the world, defended herself and hit back defiantly.

She said: “Maybe you just see, on the news or on social media, me signing this or that deal and I feel like it’s quite misleading because I’m doing five, six hours a day [of training], I’m at the club for 12 hours a day.

“But I throw out one post in the car on the way to practice and all of a sudden it’s, ‘I don’t focus on tennis’.

“I think that it is unfair but it’s something I have learned to deal with and become a bit more insensitive to the outside noise.

“At the end of the day, I feel like my days [with sponsors] are pretty limited.

“I’m not doing crazy days. I’m doing three, four days every quarter, so it’s really not that much.”

Raducanu’s hard-court swing is done for now following early exits in Indian Wells and Miami – enabling her to enjoy some down time at a Miami Heat NBA match.

Her focus will now turn to the clay, a surface on which she has never played a professional match.

The teenager is scheduled to represent Great Britain at the team tennis Billie Jean King Cup against the Czech Republic before appearing at April’s Stuttgart Open, a tournament supported by Porsche.


Raducanu took in a Miami Heat NBA game during her trip to Florida


She also has a commercial deal with Evian