Injured British tennis star Emma Raducanu has suffered a brutal sponsorship blow with her Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet ‘taken away’.
Raducanu is currently ruled out after spraining ligaments in her left foot, which forced the 21-year-old to withdraw from the Wuhan Open and China Open.
To make matters worse for the 2021 US Open champion, her big-money endorsement deal with Porsche may now be ‘heading for the scrapyard’.
That’s according to the Daily Mail, who report that Porsche ‘took back’ the £125,000 car they gave to her following her stunning major triumph three years ago, in which Raducanu walked away with the title in New York as a qualifier.
Porsche is known to swiftly withdraw vehicles from celebrity ambassadors if they are not getting ‘value for money’, a source in the sponsorship business claims.
It feels somewhat harsh on Raducanu, who has been on a resurgence this year, after long-term injury problems across both 2022 and 2023.
Raducanu has climbed back up to world No.54 after her long period of inactivity and has reached quarter-finals in Stuttgart, Eastbourne, Washington and Seoul.
Emma Raducanu’s car has been taken away
‘Emma no longer has a Porsche,’ one of her associates told the Daily Mail.
‘They took it back. It used to have pride of place at her home.’
She also equalled her best Wimbledon run, defeated two players ranked inside the world top 10 and reached the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open in June.
Raducanu has suffered some smaller injury issues and niggles across 2024, which is understandable, given she only underwent triple surgery last year.
She’s played a total of 13 WTA Tour events so far this season, having been set a target of 20 by former British No.1 Tim Henman.
It’s currently unknown when Raducanu may be fit to return but she is signed up to feature at the upcoming Hong Kong Open, which begins on October 28.
There are also events in Ningbo (October 14) and Guangzhou (October 21) if the Briton is able to return sooner and secure herself a wildcard spot.
Raducanu has been named in Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals team too ahead of their clash with Germany, with the first match set for November 15.