Week 32 - WTA1000 - Toronto, Canada Hard

jb288 · Satellite level

RE: Week 32 - WTA1000 - Toronto, Canada Hard

Sheddie · administrator

Yes as a journalist, I wouldn't say that any of the coverage of Raducanu has been particularly unfair. There's been a lot written about her, but as a Grand Slam champion from the UK, that comes with the territory. Most of the questions posed have mostly been reasonable ones - will the multi-million endorsement deals and off-court distractions stunt her progress, and what is going on with her coaching situation?

Again I think Andy is a good comparison - I would say he received harsher coverage as a teenager, although sadly, a lot of that came because he was willing to speak his mind to the press and voice opinions rather than resort to the standard canned, cautious statements.

For me, one of the disappointing things has more been the excessive media management around Raducanu which is all too common with any young athlete these days. Aside from press conferences, she's done barely any exclusive interviews with the UK press this year, and in the few I've seen, it appears that her agents heavily vetted questions, only certain agreed topics were able to be discussed.

It's something I find a little sad, and one of the main reasons I largely moved away from covering sport professionally - access to athletes is becoming harder and harder, it often requires weeks/months of negotiation to secure an interview, and then genuinely good interviews are hard to come-by. Time with the athlete is very limited, and years of media training mean that athletes (particularly in sports like tennis) often resort to bland, run-of-the-mill statements to get through it.

Where I think it's short-sighted is that tennis is a niche sport which has relied heavily on a handful of all-time-greats to drive its image in the last 15 years. It needs to do more to engage its image, particularly women's tennis. With Serena retiring, there is a dearth of star names/gripping rivalries to really engage fans. Raducanu is one of the few box-office names. But yet ever since she emerged at Wimbledon 2021, she has seemed overly media trained in her engagements with the press, there's a blandness and stand-offish demeanour which seems to have become more common with the British girls in recent years - Dart, Boulter, and when she was still playing, Konta, have all been similar.

Nix · Futures level

Sheddie wrote:
Yes as a journalist, I wouldn't say that any of the coverage of Raducanu has been particularly unfair. There's been a lot written about her, but as a Grand Slam champion from the UK, that comes with the territory. Most of the questions posed have mostly been reasonable ones - will the multi-million endorsement deals and off-court distractions stunt her progress, and what is going on with her coaching situation?

Again I think Andy is a good comparison - I would say he received harsher coverage as a teenager, although sadly, a lot of that came because he was willing to speak his mind to the press and voice opinions rather than resort to the standard canned, cautious statements.

For me, one of the disappointing things has more been the excessive media management around Raducanu which is all too common with any young athlete these days. Aside from press conferences, she's done barely any exclusive interviews with the UK press this year, and in the few I've seen, it appears that her agents heavily vetted questions, only certain agreed topics were able to be discussed.

It's something I find a little sad, and one of the main reasons I largely moved away from covering sport professionally - access to athletes is becoming harder and harder, it often requires weeks/months of negotiation to secure an interview, and then genuinely good interviews are hard to come-by. Time with the athlete is very limited, and years of media training mean that athletes (particularly in sports like tennis) often resort to bland, run-of-the-mill statements to get through it.

Where I think it's short-sighted is that tennis is a niche sport which has relied heavily on a handful of all-time-greats to drive its image in the last 15 years. It needs to do more to engage its image, particularly women's tennis. With Serena retiring, there is a dearth of star names/gripping rivalries to really engage fans. Raducanu is one of the few box-office names. But yet ever since she emerged at Wimbledon 2021, she has seemed overly media trained in her engagements with the press, there's a blandness and stand-offish demeanour which seems to have become more common with the British girls in recent years - Dart, Boulter, and when she was still playing, Konta, have all been similar.

But surely it's obvious why this is the case? The answer is in your own statement, that Andy got treated more harshly because he answered questions honestly. It meant he was open to massive misrepresentation by the less scrupulous members of the press. The number of people who have reported to me that they hate Andy Murray because of a joke taken out of context years ago about 'anyone but England' winning a football match but reported as a true statement at the time and ever since. It is really frustrating because precisely as a result why get robotic, bland answers because any attempt at irony or joking can be used against you.

The negative bias of a particular section of the press drives me to distraction as it encourages a negative mindset in all of us. I actively avoid certain newspapers because I don't want to get caught up in constant scandal mongering and negativity. You only have to look at the headlines about Meghan Markel and Prince Harry. To read them you would think that they regularly kill and eat young babies rather than the truth of it which is probably that they are both slightly spoilt and occasionally self absorbed but generally well meaning people who want to protect themselves and their children from excessive scrutiny but paradoxically need publicity to make a living and also defend themselves against some clear briefing against them by the Palace. They're probably flawed people but no worse than a lot of people that we know in our everyday lives who can be a bit hypocritical and selfish at times but aren't actually evil.

I'm sure you weren't that kind of journalist but I'd blame those hacks, not the young people themselves or their PR people because it makes absolute sense to be bland if you can't trust that you would be honestly and fairly reported, and not have any jokes or even actual mistakes from your youth follow you around for the rest of your career.

emmsie69 · Top national player

I think SM has a lot to answer for. It's almost impossible for any faux pas to be forgotten.

Jan · Hall of fame

emmsie69 wrote:
I think SM has a lot to answer for. It's almost impossible for any faux pas to be forgotten.

I was trying hard to think who SM was, then realised it probably stands for Social Media!!

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Pegula saves match point and Mrs Jaggy is out

the addict · Tennis legend

Don't remember seeing a bagel MTB before - must be extremely rare. Well played Gaby and Giuliana !

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Main draw also out, and Emma has drawn Giorgi in R1, who is a bit like Samsonova. She's also technically the defending champion having surprisingly won in Montreal last year.
Its the same event, it just moves venues so she is the defending champion !
It's the 'Canadian Open' (or National Bank) so she is defending that, and the 900 points it offers, but the different venue (and city), not to mention courts, surroundings etc. surely is a massive factor. I'm sure it will feel a lot different from her POV than going back to defend a Linz title or something. It's certainly not a traditional title defence.

Yes but it is the same title and she is defending champion. Its like the open golf, it moves venue. It happens each year and has done for many many years.

but I see the point youre making !

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Saturday 6th of August 2022 10:07:18 AM
Yeah, fair point regarding the golf, and the majority of their majors, it obviously just doesn't happen often at all in tennis that it becomes more noticeable (and I don't really follow golf), but either way, obviously not the easiest opening round draw Emma could have had.
She is the highest seed in R1, so if there was a top 8 withdrawal (Muguruza withdrew from San Jose this week) she could get moved, and then get a bye, but best to assume it will be Raducanu vs Giorgi in R1 at this stage.

I noticed Ace deleted his account a few weeks ago and this was his last post. Shame, I liked Ace and if reading this I hope he might come back one day.

whist at , Flamingowings also went away as we know, and is also missed around here.