Emma Raducanu withdraws from Rome Open after press conference and loses Roland Garros seeding chance

Tuesday, 05 May 2026 at 19:49

Emma Raducanu has added a new withdrawal due to physical complications and continues without adding any clay-court matches. The world No. 30 surprised everyone by announcing her withdrawal from the Rome Open just minutes after holding her pre-tournament press conference, only two days before her debut.

The 27th seed had received a first-round bye thanks to her ranking and was still waiting to learn her opponent in Rome, which would come from either Argentine clay specialist Solana Sierra or a qualifier – while a potential third round could have paired her with third seed and 2025 runner-up Coco Gauff.

However, it will take a bit more time to see Raducanu back on the courts. The former US Open champion has not played since Indian Wells in March due to illness, and later a hand injury has kept her out of competition.

Recently Raducanu met again with her former coach Andrew Richardson – the same coach who guided her to her surprising US Open 2021 title run coming from qualifying, in one of the most unexpected runs of the Open Era in a Grand Slam main draw, becoming the only player to win the trophy starting from qualifying. She won 10 consecutive matches without dropping a set in a historic campaign at Flushing Meadows.

Expectations and inconsistency since US Open breakthrough

Expectations on Raducanu were high since then and it took her several years to find consistency in her results. After a 2025 in which she managed to return to the top 30 and regain seeded positions in Grand Slam tournaments, this 2026 has not been fully successful for the 23-year-old player, who has only a 7–7 record this season and will go more than two months without competing – since her third-round elimination at Indian Wells against Amanda Anisimova (1–6, 1–6).

The British No. 1 was on court this day in practice with Emma Navarro and later responded in a press conference shortly after, where she answered questions from the media and said she was excited about her participation in Rome – a tournament where she reached the fourth round back in 2025.

emma-raducanu-australian-open-2026-press

Emma Raducanu after her match at the Australian Open at press

However, together with her team, they decided to withdraw from the tournament – just minutes after the press conference the official announcement arrived – and Raducanu will not be able to defend her points in Italy. With this, she loses her chance to be seeded at Roland Garros – as she will drop to No. 37 in the live rankings.

The former top-10 player will now have to wait for her return to the courts at the French Open, which would be her only clay-court tournament of the season. She will arrive in Paris without any clay preparation tournaments – although she might still adjust her schedule at the last moment and request a wildcard into one of the smaller tournaments in the coming weeks.

Back in 2025, Raducanu played the Strasbourg Open in France at the last minute to gain match rhythm before Roland Garros. It was there – in the week leading into the second Grand Slam of the year – where she recorded a win over Daria Kasatkina, before being eliminated by Danielle Collins.

Tumaini Carayol

@tumcarayol

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Official: Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Italian due to her continued issues with post-viral illness. Raducanu has been practicing in Rome for the past few days and just conducted her media obligations before deciding with her team to withdraw.

5:10 PM · May 5, 2026

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Cristhián AvilaTennis Journalist

Cristhián Ávila is a tennis journalist based in Santiago, Chile, and has been part of the TennisUpToDate team since early 2023. He covers the ATP and WTA Tours as well as all four Grand Slams, producing breaking news, match reports, analysis, and regular liveblogs from major tournaments.

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