Emma Raducanu has sparked talk of a pre-Wimbledon “love match” after being spotted in a clinch with a “PR expert”.
Photographs have emerged that also show the 23-year-old holding hands with a man The Sun has named as John Friend, 32.
The pictures were said to have been taken at Battersea Park after Raducanu finished runner-up at Queen’s on Sunday following her biggest final since her fairytale US Open triumph.
The Sun quoted one observer saying: “Emma and her man looked like they didn’t have a care in the world as they meandered through the crowds.
“They looked besotted with one another.
“You wouldn’t have thought that, hours earlier, she’d suffered a defeat on the court.
“Any disappointment looked like it had evaporated as they cuddled.
“They certainly didn’t seem to be self-conscious of being together and affectionate – and there were plenty of other people around.”
On Instagram, Raducanu follows a private account in the name of John Friend. The Telegraph has approached both Raducanu and the user of the latter account for comment.
The pictures emerged almost exactly two years after Raducanu reportedly split from the football-playing son of an American billionaire, and unfollowed him online.
She is said to have begun dating Carlo Agostinelli, a former head boy at Harrow School and Tottenham Hotspur development player, in May 2023.
The pair later appeared arm in arm at that year’s Paris Fashion Week.
Agostinelli is the son of Robert Agostinelli, a financier who founded Rhône Group, a New York-based private equity firm that went on to manage billions of dollars.
He is a supporter of various Right-wing causes, according to a Forbes profile, and counts Nicholas Sarkozy and George W Bush as close friends.
Agostinelli’s mother, Mathilde Favier, is the Parisian public relations manager at Dior, for which Raducanu signed as a global ambassador shortly after winning the US Open.
That triumph also saw her targeted by stalkers, one of whom was handed a five-year restraining order in February 2022.
Just over a year ago, Raducanu dropped charges against a suspected stalker in Dubai after he signed a form promising to distance himself from the British tennis player.
It followed what one of her former coaches branded a “calculating” and “terrifying” campaign of harassment across four countries for at least three weeks.
Raducanu subsequently said she had become wary of going out and had suffered neck pain as a result of “looking at the floor so much with a cap on”.
At Wimbledon last year, she had to fend off questions about her relationship with Carlos Alcaraz after he invited her to be his mixed-doubles partner at the US Open.
When asked by the BBC whether she knew about the parody accounts romantically linking the pair, Raducanu replied: “No, not quite to that extent, but I’m glad the internet is having fun and we’re providing some entertainment for everyone.”
She later told The Guardian questions over her dating status were “terrible” at Wimbledon, during which a reporter also asked fellow British tennis star Cameron Norrie if the pair were dating.
“I think they’re more curious about this news than any tennis results and tennis news,” she said. “But I just keep to myself, my private life to one side.”
In December, she said she had “gotten over” her recent stalker ordeal but added: “What did creep me out was I saw a photo of myself in London, and I didn’t see the paps [paparazzi photographers].
“I was with my two best friends. This happened last week, and it was like some tabloid article saying I had a new boyfriend or whatever. But it’s literally my best friend’s brother. I was like, ‘Come on guys. Be better.’
“We were going to the rugby and, of course, they cropped my best friend out [so that] it was just me and this guy, and I just didn’t see the paps. So that’s obviously creepy. How did they take this photo? But other than that, I feel good because someone’s always watching my back.”
Raducanu revealed in May 2024 that she had previously shunned romantic relationships amid disapproval from her parents.
She told The Times: “My parents were very much against that as it interfered with training. When I was younger I wasn’t even allowed to hang out with my girlfriends. A lot of the time I was very resentful. But it made me very confident and comfortable in my own company, which is also a big strength.”