Emma Raducanu will go into this US Open full of confidence, however lacking crucial hard-court preparation which could scupper her progress.
Since reaching the Round of 16 at Wimbledon, the 21-year-old has played just one WTA event on this surface, and could face a really harsh return to reality in New York.
The place of her greatest triumph to date, and still the only title of her career, the way in which she stormed through the qualifiers and won the entire competition in 2021 remains one of the greatest fairytales in tennis history.
However, Andy Roddick has now questioned the manner in which she has acted in the run-up to returning to Arthur Ashe.
Andy Roddick left baffled by Emma Raducanu
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, the American combed through the freshly-released US Open draw, going through it match by match.
Naturally, the first-round clash between Sofia Kenin and Emma Raducanu caught his eye, as it saw two Grand Slam champions meet.
In previewing it the former world number one actually took aim at how the latter had been preparing for the event, after she decided against entering the qualifying for both the Canadian and Cincinnati Open.
Baffled, Roddick admitted: ‘The battle of major winners who you just don’t know what you’re going to get. Raducanu, I loved what she was building through Washington. And then she decided that she wasn’t going to play quailes in any of the tournaments which was even more strange when you see someone like Naomi Osaka put pride aside and go play qualies in Cincinnati.
‘Those of us questioning that decision maybe felt validated when we saw Osaka go qualifying, so we don’t know. I think I’m going to go Raducanu [to beat Kenin] but I’m not confident about it.’
Roddick is not alone in this standpoint, with former WTA star Monica Puig questioning Raducanu’s US Open preparation as well.
Could Emma Raducanu realistically win the US Open again?
Going into this event, Raducanu will be hopeful that she can enjoy another strong run at a Grand Slam and earn some much-needed ranking points.
After all, given how injury-ravaged her 2023 was, this represents a huge opportunity to gain a massive influx of points to rise up the rankings, with none to defend from last year.
Impressing in her home Grand Slam, where many will actually argue that she could and should have gone further, returning to the site where all her dreams came true might help spur her on to reach that one extra round that she could not at Wimbledon.
A strong showing in Washington, where she was narrowly beaten by the eventual winner Paula Badosa in the semi-finals, further cements her chances of impressing in New York.
However, first she has Kenin to beat, and that alone will not be easy. Once she’s through that, then perhaps Raducanu can start to look ahead at how her draw might open up.
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