Tennis influencer Rachel Stuhlmann has defended Emma Raducanu after the British tennis star was accused of focusing more on sponsors than tennis. 

Raducanu catapulted to stardom last year when she won the US Open without dropping a set and was quickly presented with an abundance of endorsement deals. 

However, while her career outside of tennis has grown exponentially, her performances on the court have been underwhelming. 

The British star has insisted that despite what her social media posts may suggest, she is continuing to work extremely hard on improving her tennis.

"Maybe you just see, on the news or on social media, me signing this or that deal and I feel like it’s quite misleading because I’m doing five, six hours a day [of training], I’m at the club for 12 hours a day,” she said earlier this year.

“But I throw out one post in the car on the way to practice and all of a sudden it’s: 'I don’t focus on tennis’. I think that it is unfair."

British tennis player Emma Raducanu
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - SEPTEMBER 24: Emma Raducanu of Great Britain reacts after a shot against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia of the Hana Bank Korea Open Championships at the Olympic Park Tennis Court on September 24, 2022 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA - SEPTEMBER 24: Emma Raducanu of Great Britain reacts after a shot against Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia of the Hana Bank Korea Open Championships at the Olympic Park Tennis Court on September 24, 2022 in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Stuhlmann, who boasts more than 230,000 Instagram followers of her own and has been dubbed tennis's 'number one influencer', thinks the damning verdict of Raducanu's social media stardom is completely unfounded.

What has Stuhlmann said about Raducanu?

Speaking to GiveMeSport Women, Stuhlmann emphasised that it's only natural for sponsors to want to work with the British number one and urged the rising star to continue growing her brand.

"I think the criticism is ridiculous. Emma [Raducanu] worked so hard to make history and win a Grand Slam title all the way from the qualifiers. She is an awesome person and has a great personality. Why wouldn’t brands want to work with her?

She is still focusing on her game and working hard. She is incredibly poised and mature for her age, and has a bright and exciting career ahead of her.

"I think it’s awesome that she is working hard on-court, and growing her brand and business off-court, good for her!"

Rachel Stuhlmann

How does Stuhlmann deal with negative comments?

Raducanu has previously opened up about learning to cope with hateful comments online and admitted she is getting better at dealing with them.

"It's something that I have learned to deal with more and become a bit more insensitive to the outside noise," she said. "And at the end of the day, I feel like my days [working with commercial partners] are pretty limited."

Given the nature of Stuhlmann's profession, she has also been subject to some negative comments during her career but has learned not to let the trolls get her down.

Rachel Stuhlmann

“Generally, I have received a lot of love from everyone and it has been amazing," she stressed.

"Early on in my career, I was bullied by a couple of people but decided to not let their words get to me and to be myself —  it was one of the best decisions that I ever made.

“As I continue to grow across all platforms, I will admit that it’s not always a beautiful world and everyone doesn’t just love each other. Like anything, some people say nasty things and it gets to me. I’m a person, but I have a great support system and faith to never go to a dark place.” 

Stuhlmann also emphasised how much she enjoys working with brands and that she is determined to continue "spreading love" around the game.

"Everything that I do within the game is all under one umbrella and that’s me and my brand. I love it.” 

Check out Rachel Stuhlmann on Instagram and on Twitter here

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