Emma Raducanu Sports Personality Odds: US Open champion favourite for BBC award
For many British tennis fans something happened on Saturday night in New York we just aren't accustomed to.
Years of following the likes of Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski who came close but not winning a major, we were then treated to the Andy Murray years, the Scotsman a three-time major and Olympic champion, Murray at his peak was up against three of the best players to have ever played the game in Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and the man who has a chance to usurp the pair on Sunday night Novak Djokovic. This meant there was a lot of heartache and near misses over the years and even when Murray did get the job done his matches were very much the rollercoaster ride.
When Emma Raducanu stepped onto Arthur Ashe court at Flushing Meadows in Saturday's US Open final, she was cool as a cucumber. Whilst her opponent, just a year older, was no push over and the quality was there for all to see, Raducanu never really looked in trouble against her Canadian opponent and she would win in straight sets to become the first qualifier to win a major tennis tournament in the Open era and the first British women to win since 1977 when Virginia Wade won at Wimbledon.
Already favourite to win Sports Personality of the Year before Sunday's final, the win has seen her odds plummet even further and is now looking like a shoe in for the prize in December.
A few months ago the majority of sports fans wouldn't have even heard of Raducanu, the 18-year-old rising to prominence as a wildcard at Wimbledon where she reached the fourth round before having to retire during her match due to breathing difficulties.
Such is the world that the likes of John McEnroe, Kevin Pietersen and Piers Morgan all piled in on the 18 year old saying she needed to be mentally tougher, but Raducanu really served it up to them on Saturday night, winning her first title let alone major in only her fourth WTA event!
400/1 before the US Open she was odds on favourite to beat Leylah Fernandez and we're seeing a similar story in the Sports Personality market.
Now set to be 21 in the world, Emma Raducanu will be returning to a lot of attention in the UK. The US Open had been shown on Amazon Prime to a failry limited audience but with Channel 4 doing a deal to show the final, the Brit will have created a heap more fans which is one of the reasons she's so short in the Sports Personality betting.
Usually in an Olympics year it's a tough ask for a non-Olympian to win the award, but at odds of 1/12 the bookmakers think its a done deal.
Tom Daley is second favourite at odds of 6/1 whilst best price 16/1 Adam Peaty does have a chance to increase his popularity over the next few weeks where he is 13/1 in the Strictly Come Dancing odds.
Raducanu was priced up as big as 500/1 for Sports Personality prior to the US Open, before being clipped in round by round, 12/1, 8/1, 11/2, 4/1, 9/4 all the way to 8/13 before Saturday's final with Betfair. Briefly a 1/2 chance she's now solidified at the head of the market at 1/20.
In terms of tennis and looking ahead to next season, the Brit is currently trading around the fourth favourite mark between 8/1 and 14/1 for the Aussie Open in January, a win probability percentage of 6.7%. The 14's with William Hill may not be around for two long and the standard of tennis she's played this last three weeks makes her a serious contender.
She's a bigger price in the 2022 French Open odds mainly because she hasn't even played a competitive match on clay yet whilst her 2022 Wimbledon odds are best price 10/1 with Bet365.
One things for sure, you wouldn't count out the 18-year-old adding more majors in her career and if she does we can expect more than one Sports Personality of the Year awards as well.
