Emma Raducanu makes announcement after ditching French Open qualifying

Emma Raducanu has confirmed that she is indeed skipping the French Open as the British tennis star is not injured but has decided to focus on preparing for the grass season.After making a very promising start on clay this year with two very strong Billie Jean King Cup wins and also making the Stuttgart quarterfinal, Raducanu suffered a first-round exit in Madrid but despite an early loss at Caja Magica it was still a good start to the clay season for the Briton.

In the remainder of the clay season, Raducanu was believed to be targeting to play at the Rome Open and French Open. But after the two tournaments rejected to give Raducanu a main draw wildcard, the Briton also refused to play in the qualifying of Rome and the French Open.

On Sunday morning, it was reported that Raducanu pulled out of the French Open qualifying but it still didn’t mean that the Briton was out of the French Open since she needed just three more player withdrawals to reach the main draw directly. But now, it is official that Raducanu is out of the 2024 French Open edition.

Raducanu confirms she is out of the French Open
“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,” Raducanu said in a statement.

On June 10th, a WTA 250 tournament in Nottingham is taking place and that will mark the start of the grass season. Since Raducanu hasn’t played since Madrid, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Briton decided to start her grass season early and compete in Nottingham.

Leading up to Wimbledon, two other tournaments on British soil are slated to take place – Birmingham and Eastbourne. It remains to be seen what are Raducanu’s plans for the grass season and how many tournaments she is planning to play before making her return to Wimbledon this year.