In the end Emma Raducanu was one of the first in and out the grandiose gates of the Foro Italico this year. She had arrived in Rome early, eager to test her health and readiness for top-level competition through a series of training sessions on the heavy red clay courts of the Italian Open. As the hours on court piled up, and her planned opening match on Thursday drew closer, it seemed reasonable to conclude that she would make her first appearance in two months. Instead, her absence from the courts will extend to more than two months.

Things are rarely straightforward with Raducanu, demonstrated by the nature of her withdrawal in Rome, which occurred just 30 minutes after she gave little indication of her intention during a press conference. The past few months, as usual, have come with ample speculation about Raducanu’s health, meaning her appearance in Rome was at least an opportunity for her to provide clarity on her recent struggles. Somehow, the manner of her exit only generated further questions.

Still, Raducanu did explain the nature of her post-viral illness, which has affected her for two months. She had tried to push through a virus for much of February, but by March those symptoms still had not abated. “Post-viral, it’s quite hard, you feel drained, you feel tired, no energy, it’s difficult and it lingered for quite a while,” she said. “Right now I wouldn’t say I’m 100%. I’m still building my way back. It is difficult to then kind of maintain it, even if your tennis level is very high, it’s difficult to maintain for the full duration of the match.”

On Tuesday evening, Raducanu was also asked if she had considered skipping the clay-court season and heading straight to the grass, a decision she controversially made in 2024. Her outlook on clay, her least favourite surface, has evolved: “I’m not necessarily thinking everything for the grass, because I know in the years to come, every time, every week that I get on the clay courts, it’s going to help me for the future and longer term. And it’s great for game development, for physical development, using your legs in a different way and loading. And I think it’s good for me as a player to be on the clay and spend time on it.”

Still, the clay-court season is nearly over. The beginning of the Italian Open foreshadows the imminent arrival of Roland Garros. After two weeks in Rome, there is only one tournament week remaining on the WTA Tour before the French Open. Raducanu is hoping to receive a late wildcard for the WTA 500 event in Strasbourg, but time is running out as she attempts to be healthy enough to compete in the second major tournament of the year.

Whether or not she manages to compete in Paris, the central issue in Raducanu’s career is unchanged. For all the intrigue and mystery surrounding her tennis and coaching decisions, by far Raducanu’s biggest issue is the fact that she has been stuck in a banal cycle of injuries, illnesses and physical ailments since the beginning of her career. Fleeting periods of good health have been anomalous in her entire experience as a professional tennis player. In isolation, her post-viral illness may be a case of bad luck but this is the latest setback in a long line of ailments and injuries that has kept Raducanu off the court for such a long time.

This season has been particularly miserable considering what preceded it. For the first time in her career, Raducanu had put together a consistent run of matches on the tour. She had won plenty of contests, particularly triumphing over most opponents she was expected to defeat. There were countless areas for improvement, particularly with the number of heavy losses she suffered against top players, but Raducanu had set herself up well for the new season.

Five months into the 2026 campaign, that positive progress feels like a lifetime ago. This season, her three-month struggle with this virus and its lingering symptoms was preceded by a foot injury that had sidelined her for most of the off-season and meant that days before her first match of the year she was still just doing static feeding drills. Since signing a lucrative contract with Uniqlo, Raducanu has contested only two matches in Indian Wells. She will now look to Strasbourg hoping that when she is next able to step on to the match court, she will actually be able to remain on it for the foreseeable future.