Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu has pulled out of this week’s Miami Open due to a back injury.
The Brit has been hoping to capitalise on the momentum she recently gained at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells where she reached the third round before losing 6-3, 7-5, to Aryna Sabalenka. Raducanu has won four out of nine matches played so far this season (excluding walkovers) but she is yet to record back-to-back victories. In Indian Wells, she won her second round match via retirement after Dayana Yastresmska called it quits four games into their match.
“It was a good success, I would say,” Raducanu said of her Indian Wells run.
“I think I have handled myself a lot better on the match court. I was a lot more positive and hungry to play, and that showed I think in the tennis that I did play.”
In Miami, the tennis star was drawn to play World No.52 Wang Xiyu in the first round with the winner then taking on World No.35 Anna Kalinskaya.
According to The Guardian, a member of Raducanu’s team has said the pain in her back is not serious but she doesn’t want to risk making it worse by playing in Miami. Her next scheduled event is Great Britain’s tie against France in the Billie Jean King Cup which is set to get underway on April 12th.
The setback is the latest in a series of injury woes for the 21-year-old who missed a large chunk of the Tour last year after opting to undergo ankle and wrist surgery. She is currently ranked 288th in the world and has been outside the world’s top 100 since April 2023.
Earlier this year in an interview with BBC Sport, Raducanu said her priority for this season is becoming a better tennis player and not her results on the Tour. She hasn’t won a title since her sensational run at the 2021 US Open where she became the first qualifier to win the Grand Slam.
