We have had enough of ‘celebrity’ culture – Emma Raducanu is a perfect new role model

The teenager’s US Open victory will see a shift in values towards fundamental, straightforward decency, writes Hamish McRae

Emma Raducanu lifts the US Open trophy on Saturday (AFP/Getty)

Something so special happened at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City on Saturday that it will take time to grasp just how far the seismic shock of Emma Raducanu’s triumph will travel.

Some things are easy to see. It changes tennis, of course. For two young women, both still in their teens, to give such a demonstration of authority, grace and power, will ensure that tennis remains embedded as one of the top global sports in terms of media coverage and financial muscle. It changes the position of women in tennis, for earnings of women players will climb vis-à-vis those of the still-higher-paid men. It has been estimated that Emma Raducanu could pass triple grand slam winner Sir Andy Murray in earnings, thanks to her appeal among Generation Z.

But this is not just about tennis, or young women, or indeed about sport. There may well be two other stories here, one about how advertisers reach people, the other about the social values of US and European democracies.

The first is straightforward. It has become hard for advertisers to reach people who rely on social media for their information, rather than the press, television, and the various entertainment giants such as Netflix and Disney – in effect most of Generation Z. Put another way: how do you sell to people who only listen to their friends? The advertising industry is hugely innovative and is finding ways to do so, but it is cumbersome and can backfire. For example, some “ambassador” for a product or service has to be sacked because they make some off-message tweet, and the company has to grovel and assert that this is contrary to their “values”.

Enterprises can control the message they give through conventional marketing channels, but they can’t control what is shared on social media. If your principal market is the middle-aged and over, that is all right. Your customers won’t trust social media and you can reach then via mainstream advertising. But if your market is the 20-somethings, it is tricky.

So genuine sports stars, such as Emma Raducanu and indeed her opponent, Leylah Fernandez, are gold dust. So too, in a slightly different league, is Sky Brown, the 13-year-old skateboarder who became Britain’s youngest ever medal winner at the Tokyo Olympics.

What stood out in New York was the grace, decency and drive of both Raducanu and Fernandez – qualities not always evident in their older and oft-times grumpy male counterparts.

That leads to a wider thought. Might there be a shift in the values that society admires in celebrities? In shorthand, many of the high earners in the sports and entertainment industries may be excellent at their particular crafts, but they may not be very admirable in other ways. A few – Marcus Rashford is a fine example – have made contributions to society far beyond their day-to-day activities. But a lot are just not very bright, or not very nice. They have clever image managers that may enable them to go on with their promotional work, and for some at least it does not seem to matter. But it may, as and when society’s values shift – as they have in the past and surely will in the future.

So I suggest this. Emma Raducanu is herself wonderful, and it is extraordinary to be able to say that of someone who is so young. But she will also become a catalyst for something bigger. That will be a shift in values towards fundamental, straightforward decency, rather than virtue signalling faux empathy that US, and to a lesser extent UK, society currently favours.

It is never possible to predict how social values will change, and it may be that this tipping point is some way ahead. But I had a glimpse of something different in that tennis match in New York, and I hope it is a glimpse of the future.