Emma Raducanu won't be playing at the 2024 Roland Garros after withdrawing from the qualifying event.
The British player wasn't able to improve her ranking as much as she had hoped weeks ago, which meant that she would have to play the qualifiers in Paris. Obviously, Raducanu was not too keen on that, but if she wanted to play, there was no other way, as the tournament didn’t offer her a wild card.
She wasn't too far off from entering the main draw directly because she only needed three players to withdraw from the event to get in, but she wasn't keen on waiting to see whether that would happen.
According to reports from her native United Kingdom, the Brit practiced on hard courts in recent times, which clearly indicated that she wasn't really counting on playing in Paris.
It's an interesting choice because she actually looked really solid on clay this year, winning a couple of decent matches. She officially withdrew from the event, which confirmed her skipping the event. The Brit explained her withdrawal, saying she wants to stay fit for the remainder of the match.
"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."
She clearly intends to get ready for the grass season and then the hard court season later in the year. This decision makes sense because making a deep run at Roland Garros would be difficult because she lacks experience on the surface, and she certainly can do more damage on grass and hard courts.
Starting preparation for that part of the season early makes sense for the former US Open winner, especially at the expense of a finishing clay season.
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