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British tennis star Emma Raducanu caused a flutter of excitement in Premier League circles this week when she turned out for a practice session in Germany wearing a personalised Tottenham Hotspur shirt.
Raducanu was spotted warming up on court on Monday ahead of the 2022 Stuttgart Open in a white Spurs home jersey complete with her name and squad number (10) on the back.
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This must have come as quite a shock to Tottenham striker Harry Kane, who could be forgiven for thinking that he had unwittingly handed over his squad number to the 19-year-old reigning U.S. Open champion when his club shared the photos on social media.
Things you love to see 👌 https://t.co/QoL4ymZXnR
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) April 18, 2022
Raducanu later revealed that she wore Kane’s number in tribute to the Spurs striker and because most of her current coaching team happen to be supporters of the North London club.
“My whole team basically are big Spurs fans and I feel like they’re egging me on,” Raducanu told reporters. “They’re desperately trying to get me behind them. I don’t necessarily follow football so much, but I feel like now because of them I’m feeling some sort of connection.
“I loved following the Euros last year and watching Harry Kane, who’s obviously the England captain, and Son [Heung-Min], I’m a big fan of him as well. So yeah, I like to dabble.”
Raducanu’s physio, Will Herbert, also posted on Instagram to joke that his “work was done” after sharing an image of her wearing her new lilywhite kit.
“Emma has been baptised a Spurs fan,” he wrote. “Hopefully we both pick up some trophies now!”
Of course it wasn’t long before similar “trophies” gags started rolling in from Spurs fans on social media.
Can we claim the US Open as a trophy? 🤔
— Trevor Lloyd (@Trevorlloyd92) April 18, 2022
Still has more trophies than us in the last decade😭 pic.twitter.com/VTFylPxcaR
— Connor Robinson (@Connor_Bangtan) April 18, 2022
Spurs may have not won a trophy since claiming the League Cup in 2008, but they do have an impressive array of celebrity fans, most notably Tottenham born-and-bred singer Adele. Raducanu’s fellow tennis player Nick Kyrgios and even WWE superstar John Cena have also both been pictured wearing Spurs shirts in recent years.
We have the streets pic.twitter.com/BAOHjdzBau
— luke💈 (@lukethfc24) April 18, 2022
Of course the club can also number Spider-Man himself among their supporter base, with actor Tom Holland once even going so far as to try to tap up Kylian Mbappe for a potential transfer after a chance meeting at the Ballon d’Or gala.
Did Tom Holland ask Mbappe to sign for Spurs? 👀😅
(via tomholland2013/IG) pic.twitter.com/7KpV6LKDuM
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) December 1, 2021
Unfortunately for Spurs, the Paris Saint-Germain star swiftly ruled out the prospect of such a move as “impossible.”
Still, a valiant effort befitting of a superhero but something tells us that even Spidey’s formidable powers are no match for Mbappe’s desire to join Real Madrid this summer.