Emma Raducanu Withdraws from Italian Open Due to Post-Viral Illness

Britain's Emma Raducanu withdrew from the Italian Open because of a post-viral illness that has kept her off the WTA Tour for two months.

The British number one had been practicing in Rome since Saturday. She spoke to media just 30 minutes before formally pulling out.

WTA rules require players to fulfill media duties on site even if they withdraw. They can be fined for failing to do so.

Raducanu gave no clear sign she would abandon her comeback. She said she wants to return when "100% ready".

"I feel really good right now in terms of where I am headed," Raducanu told BBC Sport before her withdrawal was announced. "I think I have put a lot of good work in the last three weeks, but it's relatively early on in my return."

"I had six weeks almost of doing nothing just trying to recover from the virus, and it takes a lot out of you physically," she said. "I'm feeling in a better place - not 100% - and I feel like I have got a great purpose and a way about how I am approaching things right now."

Raducanu last played a match in Indian Wells on March 8. She has since missed the Miami Open and clay-court events in Linz and Madrid due to post-viral symptoms.

The 23-year-old has practiced in recent weeks at the National Tennis Centre in London and the Ferrer Academy near Benidorm.

In Rome, she was accompanied by Jane O'Donoghue, a friend and former LTA national coach, and physio Emma Stewart. Stewart was with Raducanu during her interviews.

"Coming on to the clay courts is much more physically demanding than potentially other surfaces but I want to come back 100% ready," Raducanu said. "I have been building my way up slowly and looking forward to when I get out there."

She will not play in Rome this week.

Raducanu has one last chance to play a WTA event before the French Open, in either Strasbourg or Rabat in two weeks.

If she misses the entire clay swing, she will have been absent for three months by the time the grass-court season begins.

Even if fit for Roland Garros, which starts May 24, Raducanu will enter unseeded. She sits at No. 30 in the world rankings, but only 32 players get seeds. She will drop several places after failing to defend points from last year's fourth-round run in Rome.

Raducanu reconnected with Andrew Richardson while practicing at the Ferrer Academy in Spain. Richardson coached her to the 2021 US Open title and now serves as tennis director there.

"We stayed in touch, and we stay on good terms, so that's incredibly important - he's someone I've known since I was 10 years old and I really wanted to get on the European clay," she said.

She added they have "no plans right now" to resume their partnership, which ended right after her New York win as a teenage qualifier.

"He is a great person and I enjoyed being on court with him," Raducanu said. "He obviously has ties to the academy and a lot going on in his own life so we haven't really spoken about that but I can just say it was a nice week with him."