{"id":513362,"date":"2026-04-05T00:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/513362\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T00:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:10:09","slug":"emma-raducanus-illness-explained-as-british-tennis-star-targets-madrid-open-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/513362\/","title":{"rendered":"Emma Raducanu’s illness explained as British tennis star targets Madrid Open return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emma Raducanu’s frustrating absence from the tennis tour continues, with the British No. 1 still battling the after-effects of a virus she picked up back in February.<\/p>\n

It’s been nearly a month since we last saw her on court, when she suffered a heavy defeat to Amanda Anisimova at Indian Wells, managing just two games in a match lasting under an hour.<\/p>\n

Since then, the 23-year-old has pulled out of both the Miami Open and the WTA 500 event in Linz.<\/p>\n

The world No. 28 is still experiencing post-viral symptoms that simply won’t shift, and it’s understood she’s determined to get back to full health before stepping onto a match court again.<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/p>\n

Emma Raducanu has struggled with a virus in recent weeks<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

Looking back, it’s clear Raducanu pushed herself too hard while feeling under the weather.<\/p>\n

She first fell ill during the Transylvania Open in February, where she reached the final but looked completely off her game in a 6-0 6-2 loss to Sorana Cirstea.<\/p>\n

Just two days later, she was back competing in Doha, some 2,800 miles away.<\/p>\n

That match ended with her retiring at the start of the third set against Camila Osorio after having her vitals checked.<\/p>\n

She then headed to Dubai, where a cough and chest discomfort hampered her performance.<\/p>\n

\"Emma<\/p>\n

Emma Raducanu has not featured since Indian Wells last month<\/p>\n

| GETTY<\/p>\n

By the time she arrived in California for Indian Wells, Raducanu admitted she should have skipped those Middle Eastern tournaments altogether.<\/p>\n

“In hindsight, I think the Middle East was too much of a push. I wasn’t feeling good health-wise and kind of made myself stay out there, but I probably wouldn’t do the same again,” she said.<\/p>\n

Raducanu is now setting her sights on the Madrid Open, which gets underway on 21 April.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

As a seeded player, she’d receive a bye into the second round, meaning her first match would likely fall around 23 or 24 April.<\/p>\n

The switch to clay makes her cautious approach even more sensible \u2013 she wants to be completely fit before tackling a new surface.<\/p>\n

Her current ranking of No. 28 has its perks, securing her spots in the main draws at both the Italian Open and the French Open.<\/p>\n

And grass court fans can look forward to seeing her at the Queen’s Club WTA 500 event, which starts on 8 June, where she’s already confirmed her entry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Raducanu’s frustrating absence from the tennis tour continues, with the British No. 1 still battling the after-effects…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[6962,2331,217,101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-513362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-emma-raducanu","9":"tag-sgg","10":"tag-sport","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}