Emma Raducanu’s time away from competitive tennis will stretch beyond two months.
Emma Raducanu’s absence from the court is set to exceed two months.
**Raducanu’s route from Rome leads to a French Open fitness challenge and unresolved questions**
A late pullout from the Italian Open casts serious doubt on the British star’s ability to compete at Roland Garros.
In the end, Emma Raducanu was among the first players to enter and exit the grand gates of the Foro Italico this year. She arrived early in Rome, eager to test her fitness and readiness for elite competition through a series of training sessions on the heavy red clay of the Italian Open. As her practice hours piled up and her scheduled first-round match on Thursday approached, it seemed reasonable to believe she would make her first appearance in two months. Instead, her absence from the court will now stretch to more than two months.
Things are seldom straightforward with Raducanu, as highlighted by the circumstances of her withdrawal in Rome. The decision came just 30 minutes after she gave little hint of her intentions during a press conference. The past few months, as usual, have been filled with speculation about Raducanu’s health, so her presence in Rome at least offered a chance to clarify her recent struggles. Yet the way she exited only raised further questions.
Raducanu did explain the nature of her post-viral illness, which has troubled her for two months. She attempted to push through a virus for much of February, but by March the symptoms had not eased. “Post-viral, it’s quite hard, you feel drained, you feel tired, no energy, it’s difficult and it lingered for quite a while,” she said. “Right now I wouldn’t say I’m 100%. I’m still building my way back. It is difficult to then kind of maintain it, even if your tennis level is very high, it’s difficult to maintain for the full duration of the match.”
On Tuesday evening, Raducanu was also asked whether she had considered skipping the clay-court season and moving straight to grass, a decision she controversially made in 2024. Her view on clay, her least favorite surface, has evolved: “I’m not necessarily thinking everything for the grass, because I know in the years to come, every time, every week that I get on the clay courts, it’s going to help me for the future and longer term. And it’s great for game development, for physical development, using your legs in a different way and loading. And I think it’s good for me as a player to be on the clay and spend time on it.”
Katie Boulter’s preparations for Roland Garros suffered a setback after she was eliminated in the first round of the Rome Masters by Eva Lys. Boulter failed to build on an impressive second-set comeback at the WTA 1000 tournament, falling 4-6, 6-3, 4-6 to Lys, who had been a hitting partner for Emma Raducanu in Italy before Raducanu pulled out on Tuesday. Defeat for British No. 3 Boulter continues her mixed clay-court campaign, following a quarterfinal showing in Rouen and a second-round exit at the Madrid Masters. After Lys won five games in a row to take the first set, Boulter trailed 3-0 in the second before staging an excellent fightback. However, Boulter could not capitalize on her momentum at the start of the third set and was broken three times to suffer defeat after two hours and 24 minutes.
Still, the clay-court season is nearly over. The start of the Italian Open signals the imminent arrival of Roland Garros, and Raducanu now faces a race against time to be fit for the year’s second Grand Slam.