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Emma Raducanu's nightmare 2026 continued with her latest withdrawal from a major tennis tournament. The Brit, who hasn't played a match of any kind since early March, won't feature at the upcoming Italian Open.

Raducanu is yet to feature in any clay-court tournament this year, and now has just one opportunity to get some brick dust experience under her belt before the French Open. But on the topic of Roland-Garros, Raducanu's latest withdrawal has thrown a spanner in the works of her French Open preparations in more ways than one.

One of the highlights of Raducanu's 2025 was reaching the fourth round of the Italian Open, where she was defeated by eventual runner-up Coco Gauff. As a result, Raducanu collected 120 ranking points, but the 2021 US Open winner's absence at this year's tournament means her competitors will have the chance to make up ground.

Raducanu is currently ranked 30th in the world, but is likely to tumble even further ahead of the French Open. The double whammy for the Brit is that if she falls outside of the top 32, she won't be given a seeded position in the draw and will need to qualify or receive a wildcard to play.

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The French Open has typically been Raducanu's worst Slam since breaking onto the scene, as she's never progressed beyond the second round. Last year marked her first appearance in the tournament since 2022, which was the first time she competed at Roland-Garros altogether.

Raducanu could compete at the WTA 500 event in Strasbourg the week before the French Open - something she did last year. But, even still, she'd be going into the second Slam of the year undercooked, something Greg Rusedski believes could be detrimental.

He said: "If your preparation on the clay is really good, even if you're not a natural clay quarter, your results really end up going well on the grass court season.

"I always felt that myself. I wasn't the best clay court player on the planet, but I used that period to get myself stronger, move better, you know, get all those aspects in. So when I came to the grass, it was just so easy.

"So Emma needs to get back on court. You can't just say, okay, let's give up clay and let's just get onto the grass courts. I think you've got to get the balance. The first thing is get healthy. Get rid of this virus, get to your nutritionist, get your diet right, get your vitamin intake, what you need to get rid of this virus. Because it's such a shame she hasn't been able to play it."