Emma Raducanu set to play a key role in deciding how cash will be spent to help women’s tennis

Kevin Palmer
October 13, 2021

Emma Raducanu is set to be handed a chance to have direct input into how money from Amazon Prime Video is used to help this country’s future generations of female tennis players.

The 18-year-old’s journey into professional tennis has been partly funded by the online streaming service as part of a programme to help rising stars in the game.

It has quickly paid dividends after Raducanu’s stunning win at the US Open last month which catapulted her into worldwide stardom.

Amazon had the broadcasting rights for the New York tournament, but shared coverage with Channel 4 so the nation could watch their new star on free-to-air television.

They vowed to reinvest fees received from Channel 4 into young female players, working alongside the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and Raducanu herself.

Managing director of Prime Video Sport in Europe, Alex Green said: “When we started broadcasting tennis we wanted to help support young British tennis and we found two young players, Jack Draper, who is also doing well, and Emma and help fund them on their route to becoming pro tennis players, also with the help of the support of Andy Murray, who provided mentorship.

Andy Murray with Future Talent Award winners Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper — Amazon announced that Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu were the winners of the inaugural Prime Video Future Talent Award, supported by Andy Murray.

“We thought that was the right thing to do (to reinvest). At Amazon we are working with the LTA and Emma herself, she has unique insight into what is needed to help young women tennis players really rise to the top.

“We are working with both of those and really hoping to make a difference to young women’s tennis in the country.”

The US Open final, where Raducanu completed her incredible rise, was Prime Video’s most watched tennis match, while 9.2million watched it on Channel 4.

Green said: “In retrospect, it seems like a simple decision, but actually things were happening so fast and the story was just evolving and it became something bigger than tennis. It was a unique moment for the country.

“There have been very few similar events. We decided we wanted to share this with the nation and give as much possible access as we could.

“Working with a free-to-air partner made sense, Channel 4 were very flexible. They allowed us to share our whole production on a Saturday night and it allowed millions of people across the country to watch it.”