Emma Raducanu will not be competing at the 2024 Miami Open after an injury forced her to withdraw from the tournament.
The British player was already finding her best tennis, outplaying Rebeka Masarova in the first round in Indian Wells and, after that, also finding her way past an injured Dayana Yastremska in round two of the WTA 1000 tournament.
Ultimately, the 2021 US Open champion was stopped by Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the tournament. She turned her focus to the second tournament of the Sunshine Double - the Miami Open.
However, despite getting a playable draw with Xiyu Wang as her first-round opponent, the British player won't be competing at the tournament as a lower-back injury hindered her progress.
Instead, Raducanu will be replaced by qualifier from Slovakia, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who took her spot in the match against Wang, from which the winner will take on the 22nd-seeded Anna Kalinskaya.
The injury marks another disappointment in Raducanu's journey, as she finally got back-to-back wins in Indian Wells, before she was stopped again ahead of her Miami campaign.
On top of that, the clay-court part of the season follows, and it's not a surface that the 21-year-old would have much experience on. In 2022, she played nine matches on clay, winning give, and last year, she played only one, which she lost.
Her first clay-court match in 2024 will be only her 11th professional match on the red surface, and a lower-back injury can only further complicate her progress with her play on the surface.
Raducanu should also represent her country at the Billie Jean King Cup, and she will be in a race against time to make it, as the Qualifiers in which Great Britain takes part are played between April 12th and 13th, and Raducanu will likely want to play for her country, also with the Olympics in mind.