It was only this summer when Emma Raducanu admitted that, at times, she wishes she had never won the US Open. It was such a stark admission, a refreshing piece of honesty that sounded more like a scar than a success. The British star came from left field to claim the crown at Flushing Meadows at the age of 18, winning ten straight matches without dropping a set. It was an incredible passage of sustained play that left opponents baffled.

The payoff hasn't been half as much fun.

That wonderful anonymity, hitting power and confidence has never been seen again since that most unlikely triumph. If the perfect storm a couple of years ago felt like a modern-day fairytale, the follow-up has been nothing but an extended descent into the cruelty of modern competitive sport. She is now ranked 133, having recently had surgeries on both her wrists and ankle to miss out on both the French Open and Wimbledon. New York will also be too soon as the 2021 winner continues her rehabilitation.

Billie-Jean King is a big fan of the British star and has made her feelings clear on the way to resist the drip of negativity from certain quarters over the last 24 months."If you want to be a professional athlete, it's tough. And you've got to learn not to listen to criticism, you got to learn all these things and that's why I say don't take anything personally because once you learn that, you're okay,” said King.

The first stinging criticism originated from a sporting coach in another sphere, even if it was unwittingly. “What have you seen her on – the front page of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar or whatever it is, wearing Christian Dior clothes. All that is a distraction around her,” England's rugby coach Eddie Jones (now sacked) said at the time. Jones was jumped on by many sections of the media for the comments, but it opened up a rather risible line of questioning that hasn’t stopped. In his defence, the Australian claimed he had written to Raducanu to clarify the wider point about young people handling distractions.

A year ago, her agent was insisting that she had left “millions on the table” in sponsorship deals. As Raducanu's body and mind rejected the pressures that came with the job, the off-court commercial juggernaut was blamed for everything. Niggling injuries became commonplace and coaching relationships had all the permanency of gig economy workers. That is the latest stick to beat Britain’s first female singles champions since Virginia Wade. Andy Murray got off lightly.

Raducanu has worked with five different coaches since winning her sole major at the age of 18. It is an easy attack mode to make as is the accusation of parental micro-management within a sport that has been famous for some unhealthy father-daughter relationships. The truth is not as dramatic or as clear. If it is extremely easy to hustle a woman just out of her teens for doing nothing of note after winning a major, then the clickbait will continue until something significant happens on the playing surface.

The 20-year-old hasn’t hit a competitive ball since April. In the last five competitive tournaments she has played, she has only managed to win back-to-back matches on one occasion. Tour life has become almost as painful as her physical issues. The will she or won’t she narrative has changed from whether a second major could be on the cards to whether she is even a contender.

It is not what external voices say that matters. A return to the practice courts last week is a welcome step in the right direction. However, a Google GOOG search currently brings up all her non-playing activities, from TV advertisements with Lewis Hamilton and Idris Elba to helping the vulnerable couple off a bus. There’s even something about a potential boyfriend. Sigh.

Brand Raducanu is a real, living person with a backlog to die for already. That is of no interest right now. The second album is proving to be difficult but time is most definitely on her side. As Ons Jabeur feels the pain of her performance anxiety, Raducanu knows that she already has secured the blue tick of a major. The trick now is to relaunch as if the previous incarnation is stocked away in a vault.

She doesn’t need to be freed from her history; that is very much part of her journey. What counts now is how Raducanu can recapture the spirit, the devil-may-care attitude so that results take care of themselves. As her social media post hinted on her return to the practice court, this is the fun part.