Britain’s newest sporting superstar Emma Raducanu has rapidly become one of the most influential tennis players of her generation, and already has more followers than tennis legend Sir Andy Murray a new study has found.

Since she burst onto the scene at Wimbledon, progressing to the round of 16 in June 2021, all Emma Raducanu has done is break records. From youngest US Open champion in 17 years, to being the first player to win the tournament as a qualifier and now one of the most influential young athletes of her generation.

Following Raducanu’s stunning US Open success, online gambling community CasinoScores investigated the Instagram following and rate of growth of tennis players under 25 to discover how she compares to her peers for influence.

Raducanu has become the most followed young player of 2021 on Instagram, accumulating an average of 44,152 followers per day and growing by 715.9% in the last 30 days alone. The US Open final weekend was central to this growth, handing the 18-year-old 872,088 followers in two days. She now has more than 1.9 million Instagram followers, having overtaken British sporting royalty, Sir Andy Murray’s 1.7 million fans on the platform.

Among players under 25, Raducanu’s follower count is second only to Naomi Osaka, who has accumulated her following over a longer period of time, ensuring her popularity both on and off the tennis court. As of September 2021, the Japanese pro has an average of 1,969 new followers per day and 59,070 new followers in the last 30 days, -80.6% from the previous month.

Emma Raducanu is not just the youngest Grand Slam champion since Maria Sharapova in 2004, but the first one to achieve such an accomplishment so early on in the career, this being only her fourth year as a professional after turning pro in 2018. It took Naomi Osaka five years to accomplish the same feat, turning pro in 2013 and winning her first Grand Slam tournament, also the US Open, in 2018.

The only player in the list younger than Raducanu is Cori Gauff, who, however, ranks only in fifth place.

The following of other tennis stars like Serena and Venus Williams, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal is astonishing, with a combined total of more of 36 million followers, but the speed and pace with which Emma Raducanu has managed to grow her following is on another level, making her the symbol of a new generation of sport influencers, making up to £3872 per advertised post.

Commenting on the study’s findings, a spokesperson for CasinoScores stated: “Emma Raducanu’s sensational US Open win has captured the public’s imagination, and that has been reflected in the explosion in her Instagram following. Her prize money from the US Open has made her an instant millionaire, and the data shows she now has the power to earn thousands just from a sponsored post on social media.”

The research was carried out by CasinoScores, which is dedicated to providing players with live casino statistics, live scores and more.