Has anyone seen Emma Raducanu? The British star returns to the scene of her greatest triumph at the US Open

• Emma Raducanu is set to return at the US Open when it gets started on Monday
• Raducanu has not played since losing at the Citi Open in Washington last month
• The 21-year-old recorded her only Grand Slam win at the US Open in 2021

The US Open is rapidly approaching —and the British champion of three years ago is nowhere to be seen.

Not for the first time in her nascent career, Emma Raducanu’s scheduling has been unorthodox to say the least. The 21-year-old skipped the Olympics and instead played the Citi Open in Washington, where she narrowly lost to eventual champion Paula Badosa in the quarter-finals on August 2.

Since then… nothing. The British No2 withdrew from qualifying events in both Toronto and Cincinnati and decided against playing a lower-level tournament this week in Monterrey or Cleveland.

Instead she returned to the UK and was training at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton. On Tuesday she arrived in New York and began practising at Flushing Meadows. When the US Open begins on Monday, Raducanu will be on the starting line having not played a competitive match for 24 days.

It is an extraordinary approach given that there is no suggestion she is carrying an injury. For comparison, the five players ranked above and below her spot of 71 have played an average of two events and five matches since Raducanu’s last appearance

Add in her decision to skip the French Open, and there is an apparent reluctance from the former British No1 to go through the grind of qualifying events. The last time she did so was back at the US Open in 2021, when she won the whole thing.

Former Olympic gold medallist and Tennis Channel analyst Monica Puig is among those to question Raducanu’s decision.

‘We never really have to shy away from qualifying,’ said the Puerto Rican. ‘It doesn’t mean you are “less than” by any means. Getting those extra matches, I feel like Emma needs at this point to get that momentum going into the US Open.

‘Playing in a match situation is something that can’t be replicated in practice.’ One suspects Raducanu would have played in these blue-chip events had she been awarded a wildcard, but it is three years since her Grand Slam title and the free passes into big tournaments are drying up.

And the danger is that if she continues to shun qualifying, she will get caught in a vicious cycle of not playing enough events to get her ranking above the threshold where she will be guaranteed entry into the biggest tournaments.

What makes the sudden cessation of matches perplexing is that Raducanu was on a solid run of form. She had recorded at least two wins at four tournaments in a row from Nottingham to Washington. She may not be injured, but one factor is undoubtedly physical.

Raducanu has been extremely careful not to over-tax her body following ankle and double-wrist surgeries last year.

Sky Sports pundit Naomi Cavaday, whose words carry more weight given she is the sister of Raducanu’s coach Nick, was asked about Raducanu skipping the qualifying events and said: ‘Body feeling it a touch, trying to keep that managed.’

Traditional tennis logic is that matches are key to building and maintaining form but Raducanu builds confidence through practice. The last time she took an extended break — from the Madrid Open in April to the start of the grass-court season — the result was the most consistent run of her career. After 10 wins in her last 14 matches Raducanu can reasonably point out that her mantra of only competing when she feels fully fit is working well.