Britian’s young sensation Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from French Open qualifying round, stating that she will instead focus on training for the grass and hard-court seasons. The youngster was being looked upon as one of the darkhorses and was expected to fight her way through three rounds of qualifying at Roland Garros, however, the 21-year-old surprised one and all by pulling out of the clay-court tournament. 

In a statement, Raducanu — who famously won the 2021 US Open — said, “It’s important for me to keep laying on the foundations and I will use the time to do a healthy block before the grass and subsequent hard-court seasons to give myself a chance to keep fit for the rest of the year.”

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It is to be noted that Raducanu entered the tournament courtesy of her protected ranking (103), however, she remains three spots outside the main draw. Hence, she was overlooked for a wild card.

Raducanu has made a promising start to the clay-court season ahead of the second Grand Slam of 2024, i.e. the French Open. She defeated the French duo Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry to lead Britain into the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and followed it up by reaching the quarters of the WTA event in Stuttgart.

The former world number one Raducanu — who became the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade (1977) during her US Open triumph in 2021 — will now look to make the most of her off-time and gear up nicely for the upcoming tournaments later this year.  

Meanwhile, the Roland Garros kicks off soon, on May 29 in Paris, France.

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