Emma Raducanu called out by Andy Roddick for 'strange' choice with American feeling 'validated'
Emma Raducanu has played a reduced schedule this summer
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Emma Raducanu's continued refusal to step back down to play in qualifiers has confused Andy Roddick, who feels the 2021 US Open champion is making a mistake.
The 2021 US Open champion opted to skip the Olympics due to the change in surface back to clay heading into the hardcourt season.
Instead, Raducanu played at the Citi Open in Washington where she reached the quarter-final.
She was expected to kick on afterwards, but her progress was stunted after being snubbed from wildcard invites for Toronto and Cincinnati.
Emma Raducanu has played a reduced schedule this summer
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Raducanu decided against playing in qualifiers for either event, choosing instead to focus more on practicing and getting ready for the US Open.
Naomi Osaka was also snubbed a wildcard invite for Cincinnati, but the four-time major champion played through the qualifiers for the Masters 1000 event.
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Roddick called it 'strange' that Raducanu didn't follow suit in dropping back down the qualifying rounds given her lack of events.
And the former American tennis star felt 'validated' in his opinion after seeing Osaka play the qualifiers.
"Raducanu… I loved what she was building through Washington and then she decided she wasn’t going to play qualifiers in any of the tournaments, which is even stranger when you see someone like Naomi Osaka put pride on the side and go play qualifiers in Cincinnati," Roddick said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.
"Those of us questioning that decision maybe felt validated once we see someone like an Osaka go play qualifying.
"So, we don’t know, I loved what Raducanu was building at Wimbledon, I loved the continuation of that in Washington."
Despite Raducanu's lack of competitive matches, Roddick still feels the British tennis star will come through against Sofia Kenin in the first round on Tuesday.
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Andy Roddick wanted to see Emma Raducanu play qualifiers
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"I think I'm gonna go Raducanu but I don't feel confident in any of it," he said.
However, the 2003 US Open champion feels Raducanu's run will come to an end in the second round with Jessica Pegula her likely opponent.
Roddick also stated that he would have had no problem in stepping down to play in qualifiers for certain events.
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"We'll never know the truth, you can only trust what I'm telling you - which apparently is questionable on Twitter sometimes - but I don't know that I would have ever had an ego about going and playing qualies if I had to," he said.
"If anything, I would have welcomed the chance to get some reps in where I didn't have to be near perfect to win."