Emma Raducanu 18

^^
Having some pride in your parental heritage is no bad thing in my book: modern societies these days have mixing across borders quite a bit-get used to it.
She's been brought up in London and trained in Bromley,unlike Murrey et al who spend most of their year abroad

Mes,

well done for spotting this talent before the bandwagon started to roll.

spock are you suggesting emma is more british than andy because he trained in spain?

the dress may have been standard nike issue but she chose the hat

i notice she wore an england football shirt during one of the wimbledon press conferences too (i think england were playing that night)

it may have been sincere but i've never seen a player do that before

she's more british than jo konta that's for sure

who else is she going to play for?

she's not going to pick canada, probably has memory of the place and no family links either

if she was really cynical and motivated by money i suppose she could have picked China

Giuseppe:
did anyone ask her about her yellow cap?

yellow cap, blue and red dress: Romanian flag?"

Isn't this a bit xenophobic?

not if you're romanian

fair play for the op putting her up in july

Sep 12, 2021 -- 12:01AM, windsor knot wrote:

emma sussed a certain mood , so in the post match interview she showed why she will be the multi millionaire 20 y old . handled it very , very well . a lot of much older politicians could learn from her .

Multimillionaire - She could be a billonaire by time she is 20 yr old if she is advised correctly and puts her name to the right product.

"emma sussed a certain mood , so in the post match interview she showed why she will be the multi millionaire 20 y old . handled it very , very well . a lot of much older politicians could learn from her . "

can you explain what you mean by this? i didn't see the interview

Wes, Casemoney, Dr, thanks...on to Australia

Guiseppe, if you have not watched her interviews, try to. She is mature beyond her years, brilliant at the gentle but polite put down of every daft question coming from journalists, articulate, confident, and that is before you start talking about tennis. One idiot who had asked her what her favourite treat was after the first week asked her again. Emma's response. "Favourites don't change in a week, chocolate, chocolate and chocolate".

I see her instagram account shows
London#
Canada
Bucharest and
CHINA

Should have a DNA test just to see if her coverage could include
AFRICA

tHEN SHE VIRTUALLY COVER THE WORLD

what about latin america

Pele got that
COVERED
Currently

Well done to Emma winning Sports personality of the year.
After a fair bit of 'build her up / knock her down' noise from the MSM recently it must be nice for a teenager to get such a clear message from the voting public about how the actual man in the street feels about her achievement.
Should give her an extra charge in her batteries going into Oz.

A wee bit of reflected glory from this on Leylah also I think, as the two of them put up a final that was a joy for the casual tennis fan watching in the pub

1 - No grunting
2 - Highly aggressive, positive non-retrieval based tennis
3 - Two great speeches

(I meant 'non wait-for-a-mistake'. Retrieving is nice.)

Oh and well done to Mes for flagging her up way back in the summer.
Hopefully the rest of the young Brits were watching and are all fired up to follow her to the promised land.

now 9th favourite for AO at 27.0

traded as low as 7.20

is this because people think she is injured or think she is ****?

overrated / not enough experience / perfect storm came together at the US Open for her

Jan 11, 2022 -- 1:56AM, Giuseppe wrote:

now 9th favourite for AO at 27.0 traded as low as 7.20is this because people think she is injured or think she is ****?

should be 270

880

why do you say that?

Raducanu is not just turning up here for a mauling by the Adelaide finalist.

She will have some surprises in store.
She is super aggressive. She has amazing footwork. She also has perspective, she's not just caught up in the tennis bubble she can think with a mathematical mindset, a stocktrading mindset.

Also on a night when all the Brits (bar Swan) have been losing the Uk's current tennis talisman is going to be driven to prove the doubters wrong.

C'mon Emma!

That WAS a mauling.

Looks very much like Emma will be a 1 slam wonder.

Now she has a number on her back, she doesn't seem to have the necessary tools to dismiss opponents who will inevitably up their game when playing a grand slam winner.

Yeah it was a mauling. Fifth game of the first set it really looked like she was going to get firing.

It's way too early to say she'll be a one slam wonder. Look at the average age of the top 100 !
Emma (and Leylah) jumped the queue a bit in October.

Ultimately she's got such a good brain that you can't write her off.

Anyway. the Brits are having a terrible couple of days in Australia.

* September

Also whether she played Rybakina or Swiatek it could hardly have been a much worse draw for her first competitive match. And coming back from Covid as well. So the lass deserves a bit of a break here.

Rewatching the end of the first set there were are a few sliding doors moments a few shots that just went out that could have tweaked the confidence balance, got the crowd behind her. Rybakina was ready to be rattled by the crowd if Emma's match had caught a flame.

did she have covid?

Gonna be hard for her this year. She's going to have to gain tour experience starting in the top 20.

I don't think she's ever played on clay either, so can prob be ruled out for the FO for the foreseeable. Might be better off having a stinker of a year and losing all those ranking points.

Some of you need to give your heads a wobble. After the Lord Mayor’s show comes the dustcart, but the show will go on again. After USO21, all of a sudden she had the world’s press focusing attention on her, with umpteen commercial and sponsorship opportunities thrown her way, guest appearances at Premiers, the red carpet, photoshoots, endless interviews, TV appearances, Sports Personality, social media blow ups, a Birthday, etc. Her concentration and motivation levels after all that naturally floored, whereas on the other hand, her opponents concentration and motivation levels sky rocketed as they all wanted to beat this new upstart who just won a slam, an ego boost. Writing her off completely because she couldn’t focus soon after in a match against Sasnovich is stupid, or the match v Ryba given she’d just come back from Covid, 1st match with a new coach and hadn’t played in 3 weeks.  As soon as she lost she went back out onto the practice courts. What did you think was going to happen after Flushing Meadows? That she was going to steam roll the tour

No reason why she can’t beat Stephens who’s probably been eating too much wedding cake and hasn’t played a full match herself since October. Unfortunately Halep is back in form and they’d meet Round 3 but she can win. 

One thing is for sure however, she wont be winning 10 slams as some have stated, that’s getting carried away, nobody wins 10 slams in the modern WTA era unless you are a super talent a la Serena or Graf, I think she can win Wimbledon having see her play on  grass, who knows on clay, requires more core strength amongst other things, will need to be tested during the European clay season. At the US Open she was playing low percentage tennis going for all her shots, fearlessness of youth, hope her new coach doesn’t start getting all technical. Ostapenko was the same at the French in 2017 but she was always going to be a 1 slam wonder, Raducanu has a better serve (not difficult), better movement and is more intelligent. It is futile putting a number on it as nobody had heard of her this time last year so who knows who will come to the fore 1 year from now, 2 years from now etc, but no reason why she can’t mix with the best at every slam and surprise at the Australian Open again. She is not your typical LTA product a la Keothavong, Sam Smith, Broady or Baltacha (R.I.P)

Also is currently undefeated in completed grand slam matches, 13 out of 13, 16 sets out of 16, if she hadn’t of succumbed to nerves, as mentioned in the op which may be the case first time on the big stage, she could have won against Tomljanovic as well.


purpose of the thread was actually about the fact she was a wildcard who looked the real deal rather than someone going to dominate a tour, never been a fan of wildcards for Brits at SW19 as they're generally a waste of time. With the LTA it’s just a case of throw enough darts and eventually you’ll hit the bullseye. A long career in the world's top 10 beckons nethertheless, Kind Regards.

She's won the Breakthrough of the Year award at the Laureus World Sports Awards 2022

List of Winners
World Sportsman of the Year Award: Max Verstappen
World Sportswoman of the Year Award: Elaine Thompson-Herah
World Team of the Year Award: Italy Men's Football Team
World Breakthrough of the Year Award: Emma Raducanu
World Comeback of the Year Award: Sky Brown
World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award: Marcel Hug
World Action Sportsperson of the Year Award: Bethany Shriever
Lifetime Achievement Award: Tom Brady
Academy Exceptional Achievement Award: Robert Lewandowski
Sporting Icon Award: Valentino Rossi
Sport for Good Award: Lost Boyz Inc.
Sport for Good Society Award: Real Madrid Foundation
Athlete Advocate of the Year Award: Gerald Asamoah and the Black Eagles

She came very close to being a problem for Swiatek and I think there's been an assumption in certain quarters that she wouldn't really suit clay. In fact she seems to be showing some early potential on it.
I do think one of her biggest strengths is she knows her own mind (as demonstrated by the shock booting of Richardson ofc) and has something of an old head on young shoulders. Perhaps some players end up not really suiting a surface because they get told so by 3rd parties/media and then psychologically adapt to that accepted perception.

No shame in losing to the World No. 1.
In many horse races, the best horse goes on to win the race so this was just going to form.
Emma has come a long way in a short time and she can be proud of herself.
As long as she just gives it a go at Wimbledon, that'll be fine for me.

https://twitter.com/TelegraphSport/status/1518843549365772288

sacking one of the best coaches there is and going with LTA coaches instead
She doesn't seem to have much patience. And this just after a very good result on the clay in Stuttgart, the third best result of her career.

She spent a full week training with Ricardo Piatti and team at the clay courts at Bordighera and maybe she's crediting her promising showing in Stuttgart more to that training than to Torben.

In terms of looking after the Raducanu brand the #1 priority is making sure she doesn't nose dive out of the Top 20. Everything else (experience on surfaces, beating the big dog players, titles, endorsements) will come in time but she's conscious that Wimbledon and the US open are not that far off.

Depending on the next chapter ditching Torben might end up looking like a masterstroke who knows. Looking back I wish Dani had been a bit more coach-ruthless.

She will nosedive out of top 20, but hopefully she can make top ten in the meantime and score me a point in the flag comp.

I remember Murray going thru loads of coaches - hasn't done him much harm over the years.

Nobody knows what goes on behind the scenes.

Apr 26, 2022 -- 10:40AM, SamuelMertensBertens wrote:

https://twitter.com/TelegraphSport/status/1518843549365772288sacking one of the best coaches there is and going with LTA coaches instead She doesn't seem to have much patience. And this just after a very good result on the clay in Stuttgart, the third best result of her career.

such rookie behaviour

Not sure if it's a case of being a rookie or if it's more "This coach is pushing me too hard/I'm not having fun" which we have also seen with other players who have then parted ways with the coach and in most cases have worse results with someone else. Makes me think of Maria Sharapova who mentioned in her book how she couldn't stand Tomas Högstedt but stuck with him and even rehired him because she had good results when she was with him. But I suppose players will rate success on court vs other things differently.

This is a poor decision. because she had the perfect run at the US Open she thinks she should be winning and playing a top 10 level now. it doesn't work like that. look at Ostapenko after she won RG young. it's so hard to stay at the top, almost impossible as a youngster. Iga is the perfect example of how to do things. she built a team around gradually and slowly but surely her results improved. swapping coaches and starting fresh every 5 minutes isn't going to cut it

Shes got arrogant and to big for her boots

Shes more interested in the glitz and the glam any fool can see that, she loved the attention thats it

And whats more telling is every time she wins a match shes adopted this drop the racket and look shocked type celebration...

Shell be out the limelight soon enough and into obscurity when it comes to tennis thankfully

Cant be doing with her arrogance

She's hasn't an ounce of arrogance that just waffle, in fact I couldn't think of a player who exudes less arrogance, your Penko's, Poots's, Strycova's have or had that aura, Raducanu for someone who has a rich daddy is down to earth.

Players go through tennis coaches like nobody's business, it's commonplace, She's 11th, if you look at the top 10 players in front of her, Sabalenka, Badosa, Swiatek, Kontaveit have all changed coaches in the last year, Kreicikova had 2 coaches and dropped one a few months ago, Collins I don't think has a full time coach, Pliskova started with Bajin just over a year ago and has many coaches before him and Muguruza has gone back and forth with Conchita. Most coaches are men on the women's tour, they need to feel comfortable with whoever they're working with given how much time they'd spend together, splits aren't always results orientated, though I think Sharapova once said she went back to Hogstedt as they'd had good results together even though she didn't like him, exception to the norm. I'd imagine she hasn't felt easy around them for whatever reason, simple trial and error.

The important thing is that whoever her coach is, she's always going to have the minerals to compete with the best players in the world, that much was obvious from the off, hasn't even spent a full year on tour yet.

The Telegraph has long been pushing the narrative that her father is central to her decision making.

If Emma Raducanu and her father Ian have a reputation for being hard-headed about coaches, Tuesday’s announcement did little to dispel it .../... But perhaps, in Riccardo Piatti, this exacting family have at last found an expert they all admire. Telegraph Sport understands that Piatti – a 63-year-old Italian – has emerged as the likely linchpin in the “new model” that Raducanu floated on Tuesday morning. Piatti would be a big catch within the coaching world – a man whose technical expertise has few rivals. As for whether this is a genuinely “new training model”, it is at least unconventional. But then the Raducanu family have always engaged multiple voices.

As one insider told Telegraph Sport last year, the Raducanus “start from the principle that most people don’t actually know what they’re talking about”. When Emma was a junior, there was even a theory that Ian wanted a different coach for every shot, rather as a professional golfer might have a specialist putting coach.

The same source described the way that coaching sessions tend to unfold. “They size you up, work out what you’re good at, suck out all the information they can get from you, and move on … [You] are often being asked for some specific information, like, ‘How I can get more width on my backhand return?’ or whatever it is. And then it’s ‘Okay, I’ve got it, thank you very much. Bye.’”

Thank you mes for kindly elaborating my points.

As always, a voice of reason on tennis matters.

I tend to give full verse and chapter on subject matters when shorter points would often suffice, it's an old habit that probably wont leave me.

A good rest of year for Raducanu would be second week of all 3 slams, at her age and stage of career.

Your detailed responses are appreciated.

Hard to believe she once won 10 matches in a row to win the 2021 USO.

perfect storm. perfect courts. perfect confidence. perfect mindset. no pressure. now everything the opposite

perfect draw. perfect health.

The story of all 1 slam wonders.

Injuries + coaching changes + lack of confidence = no consistency and poor results. Write off a 20 year old a 1 slam wonder with at least 10 years in front of her if you want, but time is on her side.

She had surgery.
Stuart Fraser @stu_fraser
·14m
Emma Raducanu is having a "minor procedure done on both hands" to resolve a recurring injury. Sidelined for "the next few months", meaning that she is out of Wimbledon and the French Open. She is also using the time to have another "minor procedure" on her ankle.

Too much too soon. she's done

sounds like she'll be out for more than RG and Wimbledon.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-12042921/Emma-Raducanu-ruled-Wimbledon-French-Open-wrist-injury.html
No reason to rush back until 100% healthy and better to return in some lower level event with minimal pressure than i.e US Open.

wrist injury ruined Laura Robson's career

They could end up eerily similar careers, even though Emma obviously reached a far higher career pinnacle. Let's hope she recovers.

yep says its minor but problems with wrists never good news

finnish

Really interesting interview with Emma in the Telegraph, on a day where Burrage and Boulter play in a WTA 250 final inspired in part by Emma's US open win.

“What I have realised in the past two years, the tour and everything that comes with it, it’s not a very nice, trusting and safe space. You have to be on guard because there are a lot of sharks out there. I think people in the industry, especially with me because I was 19, now 20, they see me as a piggy bank.'

That moment on the court, when I was celebrating, I was like, I would literally trade any struggle in the world for this moment, Anything can come my way, I will take it for what I have right now. I promised myself that, on the court that day. Since then I’ve had a lot of setbacks, one after the other. I am resilient, my tolerance is high, but it’s not easy. And sometimes I think to myself I wish I’d never won the US Open, I wish that didn’t happen. Then I am like, remember that feeling, remember that promise, because it was completely pure.”

“I was under so much pressure to perform, people had no idea what was going on and I had to have this façade, to keep everything inside. It has been really hard. And then to be scrutinised for it when they don’t know what is going on. I am very young and still learning and making mistakes. It is a lot harder when you are making mistakes in front of everyone and everyone has something to say about it. The tour is completely brutal.”

Even the King – when she reported to Buckingham Palace in December to receive her MBE – asked her: “So have you found a coach?”

“The pain [in the wrists] escalated last summer after Wimbledon,”“I started with a new coach and I was really motivated to get going. We were overtraining, a lot of repetition, and I carried on even through pain because I didn’t want to be perceived as weak.

“I was struggling with the physical pain but the mental side of it was really difficult for me too. I always want to put forward the best version of myself, or strive for that, but I knew I couldn’t. I very much attach my self-worth to my achievements. If I lost a match I would be really down, I would have a day of mourning, literally staring at the wall. I feel things so passionately and intensely.

Really shows the pressure she has felt and definitely makes sense to be open if you're not the kind of person for whom internalising is positive.
Bottling things up can cause illness for some people.

Full interview
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2023/06/18/emma-raducanu-wish-never-won-us-open-sharks-piggy-bank/

Eugenie the piggy bank. Aljona the piggy bank. Cori the piggy bank. Mirra the piggy bank..

The break will do her the world of good, to get off the treadmill and reevaluate, the real pressure is on players like Bencic, Jabeur, Sakkari, Pliskova, Badosa all to win slams as they're slamless in their mid to late 20's.

Finnish.

Her body's already breaking down & she's not even got started yet.
Another Laura Robson.

She won a Grand Slam though. that elevates her above all the others. I congratulate her on achieving that because that's really, really difficult

Well yes of course it does but I'm talking beyond that success, her career looks over imo - due to persistent injury.
Hope I'm wrong but it's not looking great.

I'm of the same thinking, but we shall wait and see

Amazing how very young athletes sometimes have such physical problems - I understand it in old giffers like myself (and I'm sure many on here), but people with very healthy young bodies having such difficulty always seems odd. Very sad when young footballers for instance suffer sometimes dangerous heart problems, even sadly sometimes fatal. But, I never really understand it, from a medical perspective, given youth and healthy lifestyle.

Some people's bodies are just not designed for the rigour of high level sport unfortunately.

I think there's a real likelihood that a lot of it is psychosomatic with Emma, probably more than with virtually any other high profile female tennis player.

I was watching back her matches from the 2021 grass season from Nottingham through Wimbledon and she was almost unrecognisable from the player she bacame after she won the slam. Her movement, her positivity. She hadn't really played running up to that grass season and the whole period from June to September 2021 was like a disney ride from practising against players in the top 100 for the first time to lying on her back under the lights of New York.

She wasn't even sure she was going to commit to the tour after covid, she had other interests including economics and doesn't come across as a natural extrovert. It just seems that the pressures of being a slam winner and also becoming an international star with all the talk of potential billions to be made was just way too much for her to absorb in a relatively short period of time. My instinct is these injuries are heavily psychosomatic even though she's taking a pop at Tursobnov in that interview for overtraining.

Taking the time out she might be able to find a way to rewind back though all the stress and media and opinions and get back to really where she was in the summer of 2021 when she had the whole adventure still in front of her, a positive and excited outlook and nothing to lose. Then she'd be dangerous again.

I think it's just hard to enjoy life on tour when your body is constantly failing you. Then when you add all the pressure that comes with her previous success that makes it even worse. I think if she can get healthy again, we will see results from her again. But unfortunately, wrist issues have meant the end of many careers so that's a tough one to overcome.

Yep, Del Potro & Laura Robson to name 2 with chronic wrist issues.

Delpo managed to adapt his game and had some great success later in his career before the knee issues eventually ended his career. But who's to say what he could have achieved with is wrist being 100%? Thiem another one. Never been the same since the wrist issues started. Hard to say how much of his current struggles are wrist related and how much is mental/lack of confidence, but it certainly hasn't helped.

it was described as minor procedures on hands, nothing that looks career ending.

I wouldn't trust that information. It's something that has bothered her on and off since Australian Open 2022 (I think that's when it started). It's unlikely to go away just like that with a minor procedure.

don't know about that, if it's nagging problem then don't see why corrective surgery can't fix it, she said she played with it, can't be that bad.

Doesn't bode well.
Can't exactly put it down to years on the tour.

Shes a bit weak isnt she

Always got some injury or another and she uses it to pull out and take time off

I think she hates the training and competition, but loves the limelight

I was a bit concerned that she might end up following Genie into that weird non-volleying game, but three different UK newspapers have broken the news that Emma has taken up the far cooler game of Mah Jong in her time off.

There have been some great pictures from her time in China. I hope she can come back and be competitive in tennis as she does generate media interest. I was wondering if she might have tried working with Torben again in a more conventional coaching setup but the Kerber comeback obviously scuppers that possibility.

Jm, will Emma make top 10 again in her career? or will 10th be her highest ceiling

If she is made of glass like Osorio then no, but she seemed to be overtraining last year. I remember Hantuchova mentioning that Emma was getting a rep as a bit of a gym addict. (I think that was before she hooked up with Tursonov). the gym addiction thing may have been a way more of coping with the huge amount of media attention ie something she could control even if it wasn't really necessary.

She's clearly a smart person and she has had time to think. If she takes a different route going forward and avoids overtraining then the time out might have been a blessing in disguise.

The Emma that played Stuttgart last year had huge potential. I'm still not sure who was really responsible for getting her into that form/condition Torben or the Ricardo Piatti team (with whom she had done a week's clay court boot camp). But I thought she was playing some of the best I'd seen her play.

It would be great for the game to see peak injury-free aggressive Emma against the fortified defences of Coco! It's nice to see older players making comebacks but these two generate interest and can make the game attractive to the Olivia Rodrigo generation.

Her interfering dad surely must shoulder a lot of blame. So many different coaches been and gone. One for serving, one for baseline, one for volleying ffs, madness, and guess what, if she'd just stayed with the team that got her to that US Open win, she'd have been fine.

was the coaching switch pre- agreed after the US Open..? because that always felt odd even if in time a move would have been likely...beyond that she has been horrendously unlucky with injuries but the whole nature of the WTA seems to lend itself to such random possibilities and steep declines...

a slight aside and way too old now but felt Giorgi would have achieved a lot more in her peak years without her overbearing Dad in constant not just attendance but control...

Emma the third most searched female athlete of 2023 behind Iga and Coco! (Despite playing as many matches across the year as she played in the US Open 2021!)

well duh, that's because people wonder what she's up to because they never see her on the tennis court!

But a strong showing for tennis with women's football on the rise and during a World Cup year. A bit surprised that Iga is number one, but would think that's more due to Polish bots than marketability.

LAF jsut missed the top ten!

I was surprised Emma didn't get the last wild card for Melbourne. She's going to have to win ten matches in a row again!
It's actually not the worst thing to be able to start her Australian Open campaign in less of a media glare although being Raducanu the spotlight will still be on, qulaifiers or no qualifiers.

The jury is out on whether she turns up at all of course.

Very harsh not giving her a WC. Might be good for her though, we shall see.

Emma posted on X at Christmas that she gets impatient when buttering her toast with butter from the fridge, only for the toast to dismantle in front of her.

However her patience has been rewarded with the Australian Open. She is now in the main draw due to withdrawals! The Leylah/Emma rematch just got a little bit closer.

10 days since she wrote that and not one dairy company has stepped up and offered an endorsement deal for a softer type of butter yet?

She left Australia greatly encouraged for what is to come as she told reporters: “There were doubts whether I would be able to make the Australian Open trip, so it was a bonus to play there.

“As I said before, I’m more focused on level and the practice days, trying to win the day rather than focusing more on win or loss.

“I know the difference between me playing okay and me playing good or me playing great are just really, really in the details, like doing a few things just 5% better. I think it makes a huge difference.

“I’m feeling very positive. I really just want to play a full season.

“The encouraging thing is, even though I played two back-to-back three-setters in Auckland, a three-setter today, body-wise, strength-wise, I didn’t come up with any random niggles.
I’m very positive, very happy with how my body is. I think the wrist in particular was something that I struggled with in the coming back because, yeah, I just had a setback for a few months, so I couldn’t play till late November again really.

“Now I feel good. Ankle feels good. Yeah, I think if I keep my work consistent, like I said previously, I have a good shot.

“This is obviously only my first trip back. I think that tidying up some of the areas, tidying up a bit of technique and things, also just getting used to playing matches outdoors.

“Yeah, I need to spend more time on tour, spend more time training, and putting good weeks together.”

She also suggested she would be open to playing lower level tour events, including ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments, the level below the WTA Tour.

“I really believe that the level in these quote “lower-level tournaments” and these tournaments is not that big because you gain so many skills, you’re playing in these conditions, the wind here was a prime example,” she added.

“My opponent (Wang) played a lot of ITF and got a lot of matches under her belt, but the level really isn’t that different. I would play whatever suits my schedule, whatever suits the plan.”

Good to hear the wrist is ok and that there were no other injuries.

While it's good to have confidence, I think it would be in her interest to lay low, not talk up her game publically so much and let the results speak. She has enough expectations as it is, and doesn't need to add to them imo.

One hit wonder

Losing (badly) to Kalinina who then immediately gets eviscerated by Osty isn't a good look. Emma and Osaka have the same issue that's unique to the pair of them really. They were both in the top 4 earning female tennis players on the planet in a year where they hardly played. There are only so many dodgy loses to journeyman players they can soak up before their lucrative brands are tarnished.