Teenager Emma Raducanu could be as “famous and well known as Rihanna” if her tennis career continues on its current trajectory, according to one sports marketing expert.

Currently ranked 150th in the world, Raducanu beat Maria Sakkari of Greece, who is ranked 12th, in straight sets in New York in the US Open semi-final.

Her place in the final means she has secured at least a runner-up prize of about £900,000, but if she is crowned the champion her cash prize would be £1.8 million.

She has already made history by becoming the youngest British tennis player to reach the US Open final in the open era.

So at just 18-years-old, what is next for the newfound tennis sensation and how much could she earn?

According to CSM’s director of global talent business, Tim Lopez, Raducanu is “going to be a multi-millionaire” and she has already made “just shy of a million pounds on the back of her on-court earnings”.

He said: “From a financial perspective she can’t lose and from a career prospect, in terms of how the future looks, she really is at the tip of the iceberg at this point in terms of her earning potential.”

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Emma Raducanu: How teenager is set to become one of the biggest stars in British sport – with earning potential to match

Emma Raducanu through to the US Open final in straight sets

Raducanu is the first British female to reach this stage of the US Open since Virginia Wade, 53 years ago.

“If you consider that she has already achieved what no other British female has achieved since Virginia Wade, she has done more than enough to catapult herself into the fame and the mind of the UK and I would argue actually a more global audience,” Mr Lopez added.

“So the stage is set for her to really capitalise from a financial perspective and playing her cards right she should continue to be successful on the court.”

Mr Lopez said she could become the highest-profile UK athlete, and with that comes the possibility of earning “tens of millions of pounds worth of off-field marketing sponsorship contracts”.

With the market changing a lot since the likes of Andy Murray rose to the top of he tennis world, social media and brand endorsements play a huge role in the money athletes can make.

Managing director of M&C Saatchi Sport and Entertainment Richard Barker said there is no reason why Raducanu can’t be as big as music and business mogul Rihanna.

Speaking to Sky News, he said: “If you look at Rihanna’s Fenty, when she launched that she did $500m (£360,437,500) of sales in year one and Forbes said last year she is now officially a billionaire.

“There is no reason why Emma Raducanu can’t be as famous and as well known as Rihanna. If she could get a deal where she is a business owner then the earning potential is incredibly high.”

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He added that the nature of deals have changed, with brands able to reach global audiences immediately through social media, which provides opportunities for Raducanu to take “much bigger equity deals” and “completely eclipse the earnings” of previous British tennis stars.

“She is 18 now, Serena Williams is 39, so over a 20-year-long career if she was sustained and she won at least double-digit major grand slam events then she could be into hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Her earning potential is huge if she gets it right and is invested in the right areas.

“Everybody wants her to do well, everybody wants her to be a new superstar in tennis. She has already been in Vogue,” Mr Barker added.

However, Mr Lopez noted that the teen is a Nike athlete, who are typically “not allowed to sell space on their playing kit”.

He said that “might limit her ability to do deals that feature on her person as she plays”.

How long could her tennis career last?

A tennis star’s career is “much longer now than what it used to be”, according to Mr Barker.

Roger Federer, ranked ninth in the world, is 39, Spanish star Rafael Nadal is 36, and US player Serena Williams is 39.

“I think you can go well into your thirties now, it used to be that around 30 was the end for all kinds of different reasons.

“But Serena Williams, there is no reason why she couldn’t win another grand slam, she was in the finals of some last year,” Mr Barker added.

When asked about Raducanu’s potential career lifespan, he said she should be thinking like it’s a 20-year-long career.

“It’s long and I think what’s going to be really important is looking after her mental health,” he said.

“Tennis is gruelling mentally. She has got to be physically and mentally tough, I think more so than other sports, but if she gets through all of that she can achieve.”

Last year, 32-year-old Maria Sharapova announced her retirement from the sport after suffering persistent shoulder injuries.

The Russian athlete was a former world number one who won Wimbledon aged just 17.

When asked if there are any comparisons with Raducanu and Sharapova, Mr Lopez said: “None whatsoever at the moment apart from the fact that they are, were, prestigiously talented girls with the world at their feet.

“It’s impossible to draw any other parallels apart from they were a similar age and they both had potential.

“I think Radacanu is going to be her own person and I think she has her head firmly screwed on and I think she will make wise choices but she has every bit as much potential as the biggest names in the game.”

What are her next steps?

Radacanu will play Canadian tennis player Leylah Fernandez in the US Open final on Saturday and after that, Mr Lopez said the next big opportunity will be the Australian Open.

“She is the first qualifier ever to make it through to the final of a grand slam so that shows you what sort of feat this is.

“I think her next steps really depend on who’s around her and who’s advising her, she seems like she is extremely intelligent, sensible, young and she seems to have a strong family set up,” he said.

“She is with one of the more-established management agencies and I hope they advise her well and there is a really important point to be made here, and that is ensuring what happens on the court remains her primary focus.

“Absolutely, she is in a position to capitalise off the court and to indulge in opportunities that interest her, and that are lucrative in their nature, but also partnering herself with brands that really augment her personal brand.”

However, he said the “only word of caution” he would have is to make sure she doesn’t go too far too fast.

He added: “There are numerous players in the past who have done so much that it has undermined their ability to be successful on the court.

“But Emma right now, her agent is going to be inundated with opportunities, you know the UK has been crying out for a female star, a genuine global female star, and I think we have one.

“We have a star on our hands that is going to be a real icon in sport and she has potentially not just to be that UK female star that we have been crying out for but a star in her own right irrespective of her gender.”

Mr Barker said there is no reason Raducanu “couldn’t win 20 Grand Slams” throughout her future in the sport.

Good-old fashioned rivalry

Tennis is a sport well known for its rivalries, with one of the most well-known being between Nadal and Federer.

Raducanu brings the chance for a new rivalry to emerge, marking a “changing of the guard” in the sport.

Mr Barker said: “Tennis is one of those sports that relies on rivalry, so there is a bit of a changing of the guard at the moment and it’s sort of looking for the next generation of rivalry, so whose going to go toe to toe with Naomi Osaka and Leylah Fernandez.”

WIth Raducanu entering the scene, he said “it could be the start of a 15-year rivalry”.

Mr Barker said people are “incredibly excited” by Raducanu because they want to see not just another British success “but someone who can really build into a new rivalry”.

“People are incredibly excited… but I think that coming out of the pandemic, and tennis has had the same superstars for so long who have been brilliant, but you really want to see one other British success but someone who can really build into a new rivalry.

“The whole history of tennis is built on those rivalries and I think that she is a part of it,” he added

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What makes her special?

With a seemingly bright future ahead of her, it’s interesting to look at what makes Raducanu different to other successes before her.

After her withdrawal from Wimbledon, Mr Lopez said, her resilience has been one of the qualities to impress people and she has the potential to “transcend the core tennis audience”.

“For me, she is a really tough cookie but she shows huge resilience, not just in this tournament but when you look back to what happened to her at Wimbledon she was unknown and suddenly there was Raducanu mania.

“She obviously left the court and didn’t return but what impressed me is the resilience she has shown to recover from that and to go one step further at the next occasion at the US Open,” he said.

“She spoke really well about that and really openly, she doesn’t seem guarded and what you see is what you get and I think people really relate to that.”

Mr Barker said her likeability means, “whether you are British or from another country I think you can still support her in the same way people always have a favourite out of Rafa and Roger from all over the world and I think that is the potential she has got.”

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