When is Emma Raducanu playing next? Is she playing Billie Jean King Cup and WTA Stuttgart ahead of 2024 French Open?
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Published 09/04/2024 at 06:20 GMT
When is Emma Raducanu playing next? Is Raducanu playing at the Billie Jean King Cup and WTA Stuttgart? What is Raducanu's schedule for the clay season? The 2021 US Open champion last played at Indian Wells where she was beaten by world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka. Raducanu, who returned to the court this year after undergoing wrist and ankle surgeries, did not play at the Miami Open due to injury.
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Emma Raducanu will be back in action this week.
The 2021 US Open champion hasn’t played since losing to world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of Indian Wells.
Raducanu then withdrew from the Miami Open with a lower-back injury, which her management company said was "nothing serious".
Now ranked at No. 302 in the world, Raducanu’s next appearance will be on clay.
When is Raducanu playing next?
Raducanu is set to make her return for Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifying match against France.
The tie will be held on April 12-13 in Le Portel and the winning team will progress to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in November.
It will be Raducanu’s second Billie Jean King Cup tie after making her debut in April 2022.
She made herself unavailable for a clash with France early last year and raised eyebrows by saying she didn’t even know when the tie was taking place.
She joins British No. 1 Katie Boulter, Harriet Dart, Heather Watson and Fran Jones in the squad.
By playing in the tie, Raducanu will make herself eligible for selection in Great Britain’s squad at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
However, to qualify automatically for an Olympic spot, Raducanu would need to be ranked in the top 56 in the world by the cut-off date after the French Open.
There are also two places reserved for Olympic or Grand Slam singles champions who don’t qualify automatically, but Raducanu would not be guaranteed one of these spots with Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka potentially ahead of her.
Raducanu excited for ‘fun’ clay return
Raducanu has played just one match on clay since the 2022 French Open.
That was her defeat to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart last year, after which she underwent surgery on her wrists and ankle and didn’t play again for the season.
Looking ahead to getting back on the surface, Raducanu told the LTA: “I do love moving on clay, sliding, I find it very fun. It’s interesting, I think it’s different.
“It’s not necessarily the surface that I’m most comfortable on or my most preferred surface, but it’s something that I enjoy the challenge of.”
Great Britain will start as underdogs against a France team of Caroline Garcia, Clara Burel, Diane Parry, and Kristina Mladenovic.
Raducanu says France are “super strong” but is looking forward to getting back into a team environment.
“Just to have your team on the bench, it’s a nice feeling to have them behind you,” she said.
“You can look up to them whenever you are playing or whenever you feel like you need a bit of oomph, it’s a good environment.
“It’s a super strong team they have. They have an amazing doubles pair, they have a great singles line-up, so they could play anyone they want. They’ve got so many options.”
What’s Raducanu’s schedule?
After playing in the Billie Jean King Cup, Raducanu is next set to head to the Stuttgart Open.
She has received a wild card for the tournament, which is sponsored by Porsche, for whom Raducanu is a brand ambassador.
The indoor clay event starts on April 15 and was the last tournament Raducanu played in 2023 before shutting down her season and undergoing surgery.
She has recently dropped to No. 302 in the world rankings but has no points to defend for the rest of the season.
However, due to her current ranking position, she will require wild cards to get into tournaments over the clay season, with even her protected ranking position not high enough to get into most events.
The next big clay events after Stuttgart are the WTA 1000 Madrid Open (April 23) and the Italian Open (May 7).
The French Open starts on Sunday, May 26.
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