Emma Raducanu’s success makes me feel I’ve failed as a parent

The pressure to produce children of this calibre can’t be ignored even if we dare not admit it, writes Salma Shah

The 18 year old A-level student managed to take her failure and let it power her through to a grand slam victory (PA Media)

It can’t be helped. Whenever a superstar celebrity credits their parents for the devotion and sacrifices they’ve made to help a child reach their goals, the sense of delight gives way to a niggling feeling of shame. Of course one’s heart swells to see parental love endorsed by the likes of Marcus Rashford and even Stormzy, but a deep-rooted anxiety is ready to take over.

Take the amazing victory of Emma Raducanu at Flushing Meadows. She’s exceptional! What a comeback after a disappointing tournament at Wimbledon. Instead of allowing herself to be written off, this 18 year old A-level student managed to take her failure and let it power her through to a grand slam victory.

More amazingly she scored all of this while being an A* student and showing an aptitude for maths that’s on par with her championship tennis, all during a time of Covid and lockdowns. She is talented, clever and beautiful to boot. She claims her success is down to her “very hard to please parents”. And there it is! The sentence that sinks the hearts of millions of middle-class mums and dads.