It has been an extremely interesting year for the sport of tennis, from the highs of the title athlete Emma Raducanu winning the US Open and beating out all expectations, to the lows of the stories emerging with the Peng Shuai disappearance, which although a recent call with Olympics boss has cleared that up. Tennis has certainly been thriving, popularity has seen it become a new favourite theme for some games particularly with its emergence in betting and casinos as here are some more of the favourites, and broadcasts have been pulling in more viewers too – but has the success lead to some overlooking some more negative aspects of the sport?
Emma Raducanu has been pulling in some great accolades for the incredible performances throughout the year, including the most recent crown for being the WTA Newcomer of the Year, but this also comes with a lot of pressure for such a young star in a sport that has in the past been criticised for the journalism that goes along with it – this was made extremely apparent earlier in the year with Naomi Osaka refusing to attend the press conference at the French Open citing mental health concerns and the punishment that followed, and seems to be something that has dropped off the radar and may become quite poignant in the future.
Osaka has joined the list of many other athletes over the years that have voiced concerns of sports media and journalism and the negativity that can often come with it, especially when dealing with being an incredible talent in the sport at a young age, it brings a lot of pressure if repeat performances aren’t made in a timely manner, with actions off the court also being micro analysed. This is where concerns may start to build for Raducanu, with so much attention on the incredible performance at the US Open, there may be some expectation for repeat performances and the pressure that will come from the media with that too – the young star may take it all in stride and thrive on the pressure and string together some incredible performances, some other personalities like Snooker legend Ronnie O’Sullivan has voiced the same suggesting there should be no pressure to succeed particularly at such an early stage in a career.
There’s certainly a lot of support out there for Raducanu, and a lot of other seasoned athletes looking on and offering what they feel may be the best advice – but it may also be just as important for Tennis as a sport to recognize the issues that it has already seen this year, and adjust accordingly to protect the younger talent from becoming overwhelmed.
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