Emma Raducanu has been forced to withdraw from the Italian Open in the latest setback of a disrupted season.
Raducanu had been due to begin her campaign against either Solana Sierra or a qualifier later this week before a possible meeting with Coco Gauff in Rome, but has pulled out of the event citing post-viral illness.
The British No 1 has not played since Indian Wells in March due to the illness, while an injury to her hand was also a contributing factor in her decision to withdraw from the Mutua Madrid Open last week.
The 23-year-old is therefore yet to play a clay-court match this season, with the start of the French Open on 24 May ever nearer.
Raducanu reached the fourth round in Rome 12 months ago before suffering defeat to Gauff. Her absence is a blow given the strength of the field at the Italian Open, the last WTA 1000 event before Roland-Garros.
All of the WTA’s top 20 are due to compete as Gauff defends her title. The American will face either Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva or Czech teenager Tereza Valentova in her opening match in Rome, with world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka potentially facing a tricky opener against Barbora Krejcikova, the 2021 French Open winner who is returning from injury.
In the men’s draw, British No 1 Cameron Norrie, who reached the Barcelona Open quarter-finals on clay, has a bye to the second round. Jack Draper is out for the remainder of the clay season as he continues to battle a series of injuries.
World No 1 Jannik Sinner is on a record run of five consecutive Masters 1000 titles and looking to make that six at his home Masters, while Novak Djokovic will be relieved he can only face the Italian in the final.
Sinner is aiming to replicate Djokovic’s achievement as the only man to complete the career Golden Masters – winning all nine titles at this level – with Rome the only one the 24-year-old has yet to claim.
Sinner is seeded to meet Jakub Mensik – one of the few players to beat him this year, in the Qatar Open quarter-finals – in the third round and rapidly rising Frenchman Arthur Fils, whom he defeated in the Madrid semi-finals, in the fourth.