Raducanu mystery continues as worries over clay court season swirl

As Jamie Murray’s retirement draws a line under the greatest era of British professional tennis, eyes will naturally turn to the next generation of talent – and, more specifically, Emma Raducanu.

Although the British No 1 remains on the entry list for Madrid next week, speculation is growing that she might choose to skip some – or all – of the clay-court swing as she digests a bumpy start to 2026.

It is already five weeks since Raducanu’s last appearance – a 6-1, 6-1 towelling at the hands of Amanda Anisimova in Indian Wells. In that time, she has withdrawn from events in Miami and Linz, citing the after-effects of a viral illness she flagged in Cluj in February.

While peers like Katie Boulter and Jack Draper have made use of the recently upgraded red-clay facilities at the National Tennis Centre in south-west London, Raducanu has not been seen on a tennis court lately and has not posted any training videos for some time, leading to questions about whether she will travel to Madrid at all.

European red clay is not readily available in London, with only a handful of clubs having courts made of proper crushed brick, which would limit Raducanu’s options to train elsewhere. Even the All England Club only has green-clay courts.

At risk of losing Wimbledon seeding

Her ranking slipped back to 29 this week, only just inside the top 32 women who will earn seedings at Wimbledon in late June. But with fourth-round points to defend in Rome next month, she will need to be active – and successful – if she wants to retain this valuable protection when the Wimbledon draw comes around.

The European clay-court season is already in full swing and, with a win-rate just north of 50 per cent making clay Raducanu’s statistically worst surface, insiders suggest that – because of the time she needs to adapt – she may already be writing off the whole clay swing and deciding to focus on grass instead.

At this stage last season, Raducanu admitted that the transition was a difficult one for her. Playing her first clay-court event of 2025 in Madrid, she told reporters that “I don’t necessarily feel very comfortable… I found moving really difficult – I felt like I was slipping around.”

In fact, Raducanu has only played the French Open twice in her career – in 2022 and 2025 – and lost in the second round on both occasions. In 2024, she was fit to compete in Paris, but chose not to enter the qualifying event on the grounds that she wanted to acclimatise to the heavy balls used during the grass-court season instead.

This season, Raducanu’s planning has been complicated not only by her struggles with illness but also by the absence of a full-time coach. She parted with Francisco Roig – who has since joined up with reigning Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek – after the Australian Open, which left her relying on her hitting partner Alexis Canter for guidance. Although Mark Petchey appeared briefly in her player box in Indian Wells, his involvement is restricted by his broadcasting commitments.

Britons yet to get going in 2026

Away from the court, Raducanu signed a reported £2.6m deal with Japanese company Uniqlo in February, sporting the new kit for the first time at Indian Wells. She has also featured in campaigns for other sponsors such as Evian.

With the exception of a morale-boosting Billie Jean King Cup victory in Australia last weekend, which lifted Great Britain to No 2 in the women’s rankings, British tennis has made a disappointing start to 2026.

Jack Draper has shown some promise on his delayed return from his elbow injury, defeating Novak Djokovic on his way to the Indian Wells quarter-finals, but he did not complete his first-round match in Barcelona on Monday because of a troublesome knee.

Like Raducanu, Draper remains on the entry list for Madrid, but it seems likely that – with world No 54 Sonay Kartal also sidelined with a back injury – British representation at 2026’s first combined clay-court Masters tournament will be restricted to Katie Boulter and the consistent Cameron Norrie.

After 17-year–old Mika Stojsavljevic’s stunning win over world No 57 Talia Gibson in Australia, British tennis fans could be forgiven for once again pinning their hopes on the next generation. But Raducanu’s experiences over the past five years should serve as a message of warning: expectation at a young age can be a difficult burden to bear.