Raducanu Returns at Strasbourg Open via Wildcard

Emma Raducanu, Britain's top-ranked player and the 2021 US Open champion, will return to competitive tennis next week at the Strasbourg Open after receiving a wildcard entry into the WTA 500 clay-court event in France. The tournament begins Sunday and offers the 23-year-old her final tune-up before the French Open starts on May 24.

Raducanu has been sidelined for more than two months by a postviral infection that first struck during her February run to the final at the Transylvania Open. Her last match came on March 8 or 9 at Indian Wells, where she lost in the third round to Amanda Anisimova. Since then, she withdrew from the Miami Open, as well as clay events in Linz, Madrid and the Italian Open. In Rome, she attended a pretournament news conference before pulling out abruptly, citing her ongoing recovery.

"I had six weeks almost of doing nothing just trying to recover from the virus, and it takes a lot out of you physically," Raducanu told reporters in Italy. "Postviral, it's quite hard. You feel drained, you feel tired, no energy. It's difficult, and it lingered for quite a while. Right now, I wouldn't say I'm 100 per cent. I'm still building my way back." She added a...