Emma Raducanu was close to appearing at the Italian Open, but withdrew late from the WTA 1000 tournament.
The Briton pulled out of Rome just minutes after completing a round of media interviews on Tuesday.
Raducanu has yet to feature at a tournament on the WTA Tour since the Indian Wells Open back in March.
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She was sidelined for the Miami Open with an illness, and withdrew from the Italian Open as she felt she had not fully recovered from a post-viral infection.
After Raducanu decided not to compete in the Eternal City, former US Open finalist and compatriot Greg Rusedski suggested she needs to make a change in her team.
Greg Rusedski reacts to Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal from Rome
Speaking in an episode of ‘Off Court with Greg‘, Rusedski said: “It’s such a shame because I watched her practice session.
“She’s hitting the ball well, she’s taking it early, she had like two practice sessions most days and then all of a sudden, you know, everybody in the media is thinking, okay great, she’s gonna restart up.
“They’ve put all the press out there saying she’s playing in Rome and then boom, all of a sudden she’s not playing. The virus reappears.
“I don’t know whether she’s got to get her nutrition up, whether she’s gotta get a diet up, whether she’s got to find some sort of solution because it’s been a long, long time since she’s played a match.
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“The last match she’s played was Indian Wells and I mean, it feels like an eternity ago and I hope she finds some way to get back. She needs matches.
“If she’s gonna go into grass court season, you know, even if you don’t play well in clay, it doesn’t matter because you’re on court, you’re doing the reps and they pay off later.
“But, you know, it looks like at the moment she might just be starting up with the French or she might just say, okay, fine, clay’s done, I’m gonna cure this virus and get ready for grass court season but we’d all love to see her back, and we’d all love to know what’s happening.
“Everybody’s kind of up in the air right now. She needs to have a travelling doctor. Why not put a team of a doctor, a nutritionist, somebody around you to just give you that opportunity to be able to get back on court because, you know, it’s just been too stop-start.”
Emma Raducanu’s results on the WTA Tour so far this year
Raducanu has played at seven events on the WTA Tour so far this season and has recorded a win-loss record of 7/7.
Her best campaign of 2026 came at the Transylvania Open in February, where she made the final before falling to Sorana Cirstea.
She only went as far as the second round at the Australian Open, and suffered back-to-back first-round exits in Qatar and Dubai.
Raducanu’s most recent appearance, in Indian Wells, ended in the third round with a loss to Amanda Anisimova.
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