Raducanu snubs GB again

THE growing sense that Emma Raducanu is becoming semi-detached from the wider British game was compounded yesterday when she declared herself unavailable for next month’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifying tie against France.

It will be the third time in six months that the GB No 1 is absent from a team competition, after she missed November’s finals in Glasgow and January’s United Cup in Australia. The reason cited for Raducanu’s absence against France in Coventry on April 14-15 is the management of her continuing wrist problems. However, it will not go unnoticed that she still expects to play the WTA event in Stuttgart the following week, which is sponsored by Porsche, one of the companies the 20-year-old endorses. Raducanu did not help herself during Indian Wells when she claimed she did not even know when the BJK Cup was due to take place. Yesterday’s withdrawal will enhance the perception that satisfying her many sponsors is clashing with other commitments, such as repaying the help the Lawn Tennis Association have always given her. Raducanu’s representatives stressed that in an ideal world she would have wanted to play for GB. She is not the first to be conflicted between playing for GB and trying to curate their personal ranking, as she needs to do.