Week 31 - WTA500 - San Jose, USA (Hard)

emmsie69 · Top national player

Week 31 - WTA500 - San Jose, USA (Hard)

PaulM · Tennis legend

The hype around her at this tournament was insane. Very bizarre. Lots to learn from that one but immediate signs are her management company are putting profit before player. Hopefully this was just a quick capitalisation and they now let her get back to developing through the ranks in the may that will work best for her.

Landisville $100k next.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
The hype around her at this tournament was insane. Very bizarre. Lots to learn from that one but immediate signs are her management company are putting profit before player. Hopefully this was just a quick capitalisation and they now let her get back to developing through the ranks in the may that will work best for her.

Landisville $100k next.

Its IMG- we shouldnt be surprised

GAMEOVER · Satellite level

JonH comes home wrote:
PaulM wrote:
The hype around her at this tournament was insane. Very bizarre. Lots to learn from that one but immediate signs are her management company are putting profit before player. Hopefully this was just a quick capitalisation and they now let her get back to developing through the ranks in the may that will work best for her.

Landisville $100k next.
Its IMG- we shouldnt be surprised

Hasn't she got the same manager as Maria Sharapova had and Laura Robson as well. Shuai Zhang seems to be having an impact on British players in recent times because apart from her encounter with Emma she was the player who Jo beat to gives us a British winner on grass for the first time in decades.

emmsie69 · Top national player

JonH comes home wrote:
PaulM wrote:
The hype around her at this tournament was insane. Very bizarre. Lots to learn from that one but immediate signs are her management company are putting profit before player. Hopefully this was just a quick capitalisation and they now let her get back to developing through the ranks in the may that will work best for her.

Landisville $100k next.
Its IMG- we shouldnt be surprised

Agreed but at some point people should wake up to it and avoid. They were the ones behind the Gauff/Clarke mixed doubles fiasco at Wimbledon that cost Clarke a lot of goodwill. Definitely a management company to avoid in my opinion even if they can get their players into a couple of top level tournaments until the next new sensation arrives arrives and they find themselves down the pecking order.

flamingowings · All-time great

Laura was still (and maybe is still) on the IMG books despite barely playing tennis.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

The thing with IMG is that they are a massive money making machine, I cant recall the stats but they own the rights to lots of sports events, and have a massive player portfolio across all sports. It is as Emmsie says, you get taken in and are the person of the moment but a new person of the moment comes along and, if you havent retained your place in the pecking order, it can soon become a more distant and colder relationship. A bit like the Tom Cruise movie, you get assigned an agent and they have a portfolio to work with but soon can become focused on others if you arent making them money - and it is all about money, it is a business relationship.

A smaller agency, like 77 or some such, can offer a more personal nuanced approach right for the player, yes money is still the game but they have less people on their books, get the persons needs a little more and tend to work with you more closely - it is a trade off between quick bucks and maxing out and less bucks and opportunities and maybe getting a more personally tuned support.

Horses for courses but once you've chosen IMG, you are theirs and need to accept they will control things.

GAMEOVER · Satellite level

flamingowings wrote:
Laura was still (and maybe is still) on the IMG books despite barely playing tennis.

Laura with IMG was different than Emma. Laura had a contract with Octagon which expired at the end of Wimbledon 2013. IMG came after Laura then when she was at her most marketable.. Who advised Emma to join IMG so quickly ? There are other agencies such as Octagon which both Laura and Jo Konta were with at some stage. Jo and Kyle Edmund are/or with Starwing. I think Jo is with her partners agency now which is more a case of maximising promotional income before retirement . As regards Emma's results remember that Harriet beat her at Nottingham in early June. Some sense of proportion is needed on the playing side and the agency side.

christ · Futures level

It all depends whether the objective is to maximise performance or to maximise income. Which is "more successful": if Ms Raducanu earns £100 million without setting another foot on a tennis court, or £10 million winning all four slams in a year? (with or without press conferences)

-- Edited by christ on Tuesday 3rd of August 2021 11:10:53 AM

wales1994 · County player

GAMEOVER wrote:
flamingowings wrote:
Laura was still (and maybe is still) on the IMG books despite barely playing tennis.
Laura with IMG was different than Emma. Laura had a contract with Octagon which expired at the end of Wimbledon 2013. IMG came after Laura then when she was at her most marketable.. Who advised Emma to join IMG so quickly ? There are other agencies such as Octagon which both Laura and Jo Konta were with at some stage. Jo and Kyle Edmund are/or with Starwing. I think Jo is with her partners agency now which is more a case of maximising promotional income before retirement . As regards Emma's results remember that Harriet beat her at Nottingham in early June. Some sense of proportion is needed on the playing side and the agency side.

I work in marketing and Emma's rise on social media has been insane. For context, on Instagram she has over 407,000 followers, who at the moment are hyper engaged (meaning she gets a lot of likes / comments on each post), in comparison Harriet Dart has 18,300 followers which for someone of her profile is actually still pretty decent!

To put it into even more crazy context, 2x slam winner Ash Barty has only 365,000 followers. Emma's performance in Wimbledon pushed her to heights that has only really been seen by the likes of Coco Gauff, Eugenie Bouchard or back in the day Kournikova. I mean this in terms of not winning a slam, but still getting so much media attention. She's pretty, she's smart, she's got the mixed heritage background - in terms of marketing there is sooooooo much potential there. Just feel this is a lot of pressure based on just one run, and hope she can just develop as a player and keep improving.

Watched highlights on YouTube, she seemed mostly outhit and lacked any authority in points. BUT I do think her groundstrokes are nice, she can definitely add pace onto these. Her serve is great, and again more power/efficiency can be added here. She's already looking pretty fit / fast - which I feel has usually been an issue with the British players. So I hope she learns from this, puts her head down and tries to quietly build her game on the ITF/International tournaments stages.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: RADUCANU, Emma (GBR) WC 186 lost to ZHANG, Shuai (CHN) 53 3-6 2-6

indiana · Tennis legend

First set to Tara & Emina. On serve in the second.

6-4 *1-2

indiana · Tennis legend

Rather too quickly one set all.

6-4 1-6

Should have plenty energy left for the MTB !

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And they have, they win 12-10

indiana · Tennis legend

L16:- Emina Bektas (USA) / Tara Moore (GBR) CR 309 (153+156) beat (ALT) Peyton Stearns (USA) / Maribella Zamarripa (USA) CR 835 (492+343) by 6-4 1-6 [12-10]

Won on their 2nd MP of the MTB, having saved 1 MP themselves. For Tara a very nice 100 (net 71) ranking points to add and she will improve on her CH 151 from May 2016.

QF:- Emina Bektas (USA) / Tara Moore (GBR) CR 309 (153+156) v (2) Darija Jurak (CRO) / Andreja Klepac (SLO) CR 48 (19+29)

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 4th of August 2021 12:34:20 AM