Emma Raducanu will make her return to the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz next week.
The former US Open champion has accepted a Top 30 replacement spot in the WTA 500 Internationaux de Strasbourg by Mammotion, which begins on Sunday.
Raducanu hasn’t played since Indian Wells in early March. She’s struggled with her health since then, and most recently pulled out of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome with a post-viral illness. That came after withdrawals from the Miami Open, the Upper Austria Ladies Linz and the Mutua Madrid Open.
“Post-viral, it’s quite hard,” Raducanu told reporters in Rome. “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 percent. I’m still building my way back. It is difficult to then kind of maintain it.”
The Internationaux de Strasbourg will be Raducanu’s final opportunity to get match play in before the French Open, which begins on May 24.
The 23-year-old, currently at No. 30 in the PIF WTA Rankings, is 7-7 on the year. The highlight of her season has been a run to the final at the Transylvania Open in Cluj-Napoca, just the second WTA Tour final of her career. But she couldn’t build on that momentum, losing three of her next four matches before the illness sidelined her for more than two months.
This will be Raducanu’s second career appearance in Strasbourg. She beat Daria Kasatkina in her first-round match last year before losing to Danielle Collins in a tight three-setter.
Raducanu joins a competitive field in Strasbourg, led by World No. 14 Ekaterina Alexandrova, rising American teenager Iva Jovic and former Australian Open champion Madison Keys.
Clara Tauson, Liudmila Samsonova, Marie Bouzkova and Leylah Fernandez will also be in the 28-player draw.