Emma Raducanu has started a major debate in tennis after withdrawing from the Nottingham Open following her run to the final of the Queen’s Club Championships.
Raducanu asked for a last-minute wildcard for the Nottingham Open ahead of her quarter-final clash with Kamilla Rakhimova at the London event.
The British No. 1 would win that match and also defeat Iva Jovic in straight sets to reach her second WTA Tour final of the year, following her appearance in the final of the Translyvania Open.
After losing in straight sets to Donna Vekic in the Queen’s final, Raducanu made the decision to withdraw from the Nottingham Open, leaving a wildcard space empty for other British stars.
While Andy Roddick believes Raducanu has every right to withdraw from Nottingham, he is starting to get a little frustrated with the British star’s limited schedule.
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Speaking on Served, the American said: “I promise you I know the value of winning going into a Slam. I played the heaviest schedule of my life ‘03, won 12 matches in 13 days to win master Series titles and then played the US Open.
“I will sacrifice something a little wrong with your body, exhaustion for confidence that you can win these big events. At some point she is going to have to play a lot of tennis, right? Not just one week, but like if I’m her coach and she’s healthy, Let’s go.
“Keep it going in Nottingham. If you make another semi or final, are you all of a sudden one of the 10 favorites to win Wimbledon? Sure. It’s anyone’s game once you go. And I mean, she played well there last year.
“She’s like, I haven’t played much this year. And I’m going, you haven’t played much any year. Like you’ve never played much, right? Like you’ve to get to the plan at some point.
“And the reason you can feel like I’m passionate about this is because she’s so good. I mean we saw she looked great this week. I know this year there have been like there have been legitimate issues that it’s we don’t need to go further on but at some point you just got to play a heavy schedule. You have to now whether that’s preparation and change but we’re we’re going on five years now.”
It is currently unclear where Raducanu will play next, but there is a chance she could play the Eastbourne Open the week prior to Wimbledon.
The British star has played the South Coast event in the past two years, and she reached the quarter-finals of the event back in 2024.
