Shortly before her first-round match at the Mutua Madrid Open, Emma Raducanu is withdrawing from the clay-court tournament, citing a right hand injury. Now her yesterday’s awkward press conference makes much more sense.
Talking to the media ahead of the Mutua Madrid Open, Raducanu was extremely uncommunicative, so a WTA representative ended the presser less than three minutes in. The drained-looking Brit gave extremely short answers to media questions, with a combined tally of just 58 words to 16 questions.
Having already dropped 17 positions to No.85 this week, Raducanu is expected to fall out of the Top 100 when the WTA rankings get updated after the tournament in the Spanish capital. It will be a big blow to the 20-year-old, who was ranked No.11 last year at the Mutua Madrid Open, when she reached the round of 16.
Austria’s Julia Grabher is replacing Raducanu in the women’s singles draw.
