Emma Raducanu will not compete at Roland Garros, but she has quickly set up a training block for the grass-court season in preparation for Wimbledon.
The British tennis star was slated to play Roland Garros qualifying at the start of the week but pulled out on the eve of commencement. Her special ranking of No. 103 was not sufficient for automatic entry in the main draw.
Raducanu had hoped to get a wild card for the main draw at the clay-court major. Because of her triple-digit ranking (212), she can only get into top-tier events through a wild card or qualifying.
However, the French Open organizers handed out six of the eight wild cards to home players, with the other two going to Sachia Vickery and Ajla Tomljanovic.
Had Raducanu proceeded to play in qualifying, it would have been the first time since she sensationally won the US Open three years ago that she played the three rounds preceding the main draw.
Instead, she returned to London, where she was seen training on hard courts. But she has since switched surfaces because the grass-court season will begin in two weeks.
Raducanu recently received a wild card to the first WTA tournament of the season on lawns in the United Kingdom, the Nottingham Open. The 250-level event begins on June 10th.
The 21-year-old joins a strong lineup that includes two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur, 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, and British no. 1 Katie Boulter.
She shared a short video on her Instagram stories practicing on the lawns, clad in a black outfit. Although she has previously reached the second week of Wimbledon, Raducanu has a lifetime record of 6-8 on grass.
Her last match on the surface was at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, where she lost in the second round to Caroline Garcia.
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