Emma Raducanu’s new clothing deal will give her the chance to create a unique look on court after cutting ties with long-term sponsor Nike and switching to Uniqlo.
The 23-year-old has been part of the Nike stable for her whole professional career, signing her first contract with them when she was still just 15.
But the latest iteration of that deal is believed to have lapsed in December and she has now been snapped up by Uniqlo.
Raducanu has a significant profile in the Far East, a reach there significantly boosted by her fluent Mandarin, after her mother Renee, which is a huge boon for fashion brand where around 20 per cent of its sales are made in China.
A departure from Nike’s identikits
Despite its global brand, Uniqlo sponsorship deals are still relatively rare: previously contracts with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori are the only major ones in tennis.
It’s understood the deal has been the subject of months of negotiations, but Raducanu will now debut her new look next month in Indian Wells, the beginning of the so-called Sunshine Swing with a major event in California, sometimes called “The Fifth Slam” and then the Miami Open a few weeks later.
Her Nike outfits were almost always the same as other players in the stable, with just the cut a point of personal preference.
www.instagram.com/p/DVGCTpVgaic/But Raducanu is a true fashionista, having attended some of the world’s biggest shows and counting the likes of Vogue editor Anna Wintour as a major ally, and it’s understood that the 2021 US Open champion will have significant input on her attire for future tournaments.
And not only is this deal a chance for her to spread her wings with a company that reportedly paid Federer more than £200m over 10 years, it is also a testament to Raducanu’s lasting appeal within the sponsorship market. When she won the US Open in 2021, management agency IMG signed a whole host of deals that netted the Brit an eight-figure sum, but her struggles for form and fitness since then have been a cause for concern.
Another season of change
Raducanu has also been experimenting with a new racket made by Yonex, another Japanese brand, but has so far elected to stick with Wilson, the make she has used for her whole senior career.
That experimental work with the distinctive squared-off racket head was done while she was working Francis Roig, Rafael Nadal’s former coach who was trying to make significant tactical changes to her game.
But the Spaniard was dispensed with after the Australian Open and so too, it seems, his racket ideas.
And with a new outfit, Raducanu could also have a new coach in tow when she arrives in Indian Wells. She has been travelling with hitting partner Alexis Canter and physio Emma Stewart, after splitting with Roig.
The ad hoc team have been going well, helping Raducanu reach her first final since that seismic US Open victory, although she was beaten in the Transylvania Open showdown and then got a chest infection in the Middle East, losing first round in Dubai and Doha.
But the return to American hard courts, arguably her best surface, will be welcome, fitness notwithstanding. One of her best runs since then came at Indian Wells in 2023, and she reached her first 1000-level quarter-final in Miami last year.
It will be a new-look Raducanu and perhaps a new team, but she will continue her search for the same old Emma.
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