The manager of Maria Sharapova revealed behind closed doors how social media has affected the appeal of the current crop of tennis players. As a result of their lengthy partnership, Max Eisenbud was honest about the influence Maria Sharapova had on his life. Eisenbud helped Sharapova become well-known as one of the highest-paid female athletes by serving as her professional agent and managing her sponsorship deals.
Eisenbud talks with Andy Roddick about the Russian tennis legend’s ascent to prominence in a recent interview. He does include a reference to another British tennis prodigy to illustrate how social media transformed the tennis stars’ publicity situation.
Eisenbud refers to Raducanu’s quick rise to fame following her 2021 US Open victory. She became the talk of the media the moment she made headlines. Eisenbud contrasts that with the similar popularity that Sharapova experienced as a teenager. However, Sharapova did not face the ongoing pressure from her supporters because she was not active on social media.
In an exclusive podcast with Roddick, Eisenbud explored Sharapova’s rise to prominence and the impact of social media and said: “So, managing her was just kind of keeping that as consistent as possible, keeping her life as easy as possible. Then she wins and everything—I mean, just everything—changes. I mean, thank God there was no social media then.
Then I always tell people, and they always ask me to compare Sharapova’s win to Emma’s. I mean, Emma won, and the social media world was crazy; for me, it was going so fast. Emma just couldn’t catch her breath. Anybody around here is flying so fast.”
Emma Raducanu in 2024
WWWLWWLLWW Ranked no.252, the Brit played her last match on the 12th of February when she capitulated to world no.35 Anhelina Kalinina 6-0 7-6(6) in the 1st round in Doha (draw).
This season the Brit has a 3-4 match record.
