Emma Raducanu’s contentious French Open move was ‘an easy decision’

Emma Raducanu has faced criticism over her move to withdraw from qualifying for the French Open, but former British No 1 Laura Robson has insisted she can see the logic behind the move.

Speaking exclusively to Tennis365 as she prepares to join the discovery+ and Eurosport commentary team ahead of the start of Roland Garros on Sunday, Robson has insisted any criticism coming Raducanu’s way for declining the chance to enter qualifying for the second Grand Slam of 2024 is misplaced.

There have been rumours for several weeks suggesting Raducanu would not play at the French Open unless she gained direct entry to the main draw, so it was not a major surprise that the option of playing in qualifying was declined by 2021 US Open champion as she withdrew from the draw a few hours before it was made.

“It’s important for me to keep laying on the foundations and I will use the time to do a healthy block before the grass and subsequent hard-court seasons to give myself a chance to keep fit for the rest of the year,” said Raducanu, in a statement explaining her decision.

Now Robson has given us her reaction to the decision, as she insisted Raducanu is right to get her body in the best shape possible to compete on grass courts in front of British fans next month.

“I can see exactly what her thinking is,” Robson told Tennis365 in an exclusive interview.

“You’ve got a really big run of tournaments coming up if you are looking to play every week on the grass and you have to make sure your body is as ready as possible. She knows that’s a surface she can do really well on.

“Going to Paris, playing qualies, being a bit rushed trying to play the whole grass season… you want to make sure you are 100 per-cent ready to go.

“You are waiting around for wildcard announcements and knowing she wasn’t going to get into the main draw, it’s an easy decision to just take a reset and go straight to the grass.”

READ MORE: Emma Raducanu’s French Open statement raises questions, but there is light at the end of the tunnel

After missing the entire grass court season and the second half of 2023 in its entirety following surgery on both wrists and her ankle, Raducanu has made a relatively impressive return to the game in recent months.

She impressed by winning two matches for Great Britain as they beat France in the Billie Jean King Cup in April and they went on to reach the quarter-finals at a high-quality WTA Tour event in Stuttgart.

Raducanu also turned encouraging performances against world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells and also in a compelling contest against world No 1 Iga Swiatken in Stuttgart.

Yet was clear that the Brit  was running out of gas as she admitted she was jaded in her defeat against Argentinian qualifier Maria Lourdes Carle at the Madrid Open last month and she has not been seen on court since then.

Raducanu faced criticism for suggesting she was tired despite only playing 16 competitive matches since her comeback in Auckland in January, but Robson has stressed it not just time on the match court that can drain and tennis player’s reserves of energy.

“She came back from the emotional high of playing Billie Jean King Cup and back-to-back tournaments as she did in Stuttgart and Madrid really take it out of you,” added Robson.

“I always got ill the week after Fed Cup (former name for Billie Jean King Cup). You are so invested in every match, even when you are not playing.

“It feels like you are spending eight hours on the court as you are trying to cheer on your team-mates.

“Now it’s just about getting some consistency in. When she does play and she is fit, she does really well. We saw that at the Billie Jean King Cup and in Stuttgart.

“It’s about being able to produce that level day after day when you are tired and things are not feeling great.

“That’s the difference between someone in the world’s top 100 and a player in the world’s top 20 as they are just so used to going out there and playing four or five matches a week.”

Robson will be part of a discovery+ and Eurosport team at the French Open that will include Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Alex Corretja, Mischa Zverev and Alize Lim, with Barbara Schett and Tim Henman leading its Cube studio coverage before heading over to Paris from the semi-final stage for a full on-site production.

Watch every moment from Roland-Garros LIVE across Eurosport and discovery+ from 20 May –  9 June