Rising with Raducanu (and other such stories)

The Emma Raducanu story has had us (and particularly me) gripped over the last few days. Saturday’s win of the US Open was nothing short of amazing, particularly as she was virtually unknown before Wimbledon. 

Even if she hadn’t won the final – or indeed the semi final on Thursday – a good PR should have noticed the opportunities of such a left-field, big-deal breaking story when Emma’s face was beaming on virtually every front page after she won the quarter final. Here we have a miracle story and a very photogenic, recognisable protagonist — i.e. gold-dust in media terms.

The first thing to consider is which newspaper or website travel sections work at sufficiently short notice, and their approximate timelines. I’d think that even before the semi final, it was already significant-enough news for you to have suggested something for those weekend papers who finalise their pages late. 

Once she got in the final, digital pages or many of next weekend’s printed travel sections could be added to the mix – I reckon the story will still be fresh enough by then.

It’s too late to place a feature, so you’ll have to try for a news story (in travel sections which include them), deal or round-up. Three obvious options present themselves: a single news story about the launch of a new tennis school, the suggestion of a list of the world’s best such schools including your client’s non-new offering(s) – both approaches playing up the “Are you inspired by Emma?” angle – or a newly-packaged trip to catch the Australian Open, tennis’s next grand slam, hoping that Aussie borders will be open by mid-January.

The same sort of news awareness and logic ought to be applied to any emerging story of this scale. Some of them simply won’t be applicable to travel, but it’s always worth a try – if nothing else, you’ll look bright and creative.