Australian Open 2022: Emma Raducanu withdraws from Melbourne Summer Set
British tennis star Emma Raducanu on Saturday withdrew her name from this week's Australian Open warm-up event in Melbourne, the first WTA tournament of the season. The 19-year-old just recently came out of isolation after testing negative for coronavirus. She was forced to miss last month's Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event in Abu Dhabi after testing positive for COVID-19. Here are further details.
Why does it matter?
Raducanu was slated to play in this week's Melbourne Summer Set, one of the two WTA 250 warm-up events, starting from January 4. She cited her recent isolation as the reason behind her decision to opt out of the competition. Raducanu's withdrawal raises questions about her readiness to participate in the first Grand Slam of the year later this month.
Emma Raducanu on withdrawing from MSS
Raducanu's exit from Melbourne Summer Set was confirmed by the Australian Open via Twitter. "The timing to compete in the first Melbourne event this week is too soon for me, having just returned from isolation," Raducanu was quoted as saying by organizers. AO concluded the Tweet by saying, "Look forward to seeing you compete later this month."
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova set to miss Melbourne warm-up event
Raducanu is the second high-profile player to pull out from the Melbourne warm-up event. Prior to her, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova was forced to withdraw her name after testing positive for COVID-19. Pavlyuchenkova's positive RT-PCR test has also raised doubts about her participation in the Australian Open. Pavlyuchenkova reached her first Grand Slam final last year at Roland Garros.
Looking at Emma Raducanu's achievements
By winning the 2021 US Open title, Raducanu became the youngest Briton to win a Grand Slam. Raducanu also became the first qualifier in the Open era to win a Grand Slam. She is also the youngest women's Slam champion since Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004. She also scripted history by becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.
