Emma Raducanu’s mixed doubles alliance with Carlos Alcaraz has been the talk of tennis this summer – but the Grand Slam champion duo’s participation is now in doubt.
Alcaraz will play in the final in Cincinnati against his great rival Jannik Sinner, at 8pm UK time today (Monday), leaving less than a 24 hour gap between his first match with Raducanu on Tuesday at 7pm.
It is a two-hour flight from Cincinnati, Ohio to New York, so while eminently possible it is an extremely tight turnaround and Alcaraz’s priority will be to prepare in the best way possible for his singles challenge at the US Open.
Daily Mail Sport understands team Raducanu are hopeful the brilliant Spaniard will still play and the two entourages will be in close contact over the next few hours.
Should Raducanu take to the court she will face fellow British No1 and childhood friend Jack Draper, who is playing with American world No4 Jessica Pegula.
That battle of Britain will be a fascinating sub-plot, and the winners of that one could take on Novak Djokovic and his partner Olga Danilovic, if the Serbs get past Russian pair Mirra Andreeva and Daniil Medvedev.
Emma Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz are due to pair up at the US Open on Tuesday
Their close bond has been the talk of tennis this summer but Alcaraz’s participation is in doubt
Pegula is Draper’s third partner after first Qinwen Zheng and then Paula Badosa pulled out. He has ended up with the best of the lot though, and he and Pegula are the No1 seeds.
The US Open field, while still strong, has been hit by several withdrawals. As well as Badosa and Zheng, Grigor Dimitrov is out with the injury sustained at Wimbledon – and his partner Aryna Sabalenka, one of the biggest names in the field, declined to re-enter with someone else. Nick Kyrgios is also out plus Tommy Paul and Emma Navarro, two Americans who would have driven strong local interest.
The lineup is still fantastic but if Alcaraz and Sinner play out an epic in Cincinnati tonight and both decide to prioritise recovery over mixed doubles, Raducanu will not be the only one to be disappointed.
