Emma Raducanu will not kick off her clay-court season in Stuttgart this year as she will make her debut at a different tournament being staged at the same time.
The 22-year-old has featured at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the past three seasons, but she will compete at Open de Rouen this time around as organisers have confirmed her participation in the WTA 250 event in France.
The Stuttgart tournament is one of the most high-profile WTA 500 events on the calendar as it usually features several top-10 players.
Last year Raducanu was part of the main draw that also included fellow Grand Slam winners Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Elena Rybakina.
She is defending 60 points during the corresponding period as in 2024 she beat former world No 1 Angelique Kerber and Linda Noskova to reach the quarter-final before losing in straight sets against top seed Swiatek.
One of the key reasons why Raducanu has played at the WTA 500 event since 2022 was due to her role as brand ambassador for Porsche.
The Brit signed up with the luxury German manufacturer on the back of her 2021 US Open title run, but it was reported last year that her agreement with the company came to an end.
Although both parties denied the reports, the fact that “brand ambassador” Raducanu is not playing at the 2025 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix will only reignite the flames.
Instead, she will be playing at the Open de Rouen where world No 22 Elina Svitolina will be the top seed with Noskova, Magda Linette and Sofia Kenin also in the main draw as well as Raducanu’s fellow Brit Sonay Kartal.
Former US Open winner Sloane Stephens is the defending champion, but it is still unclear if she will return in 2025 as she is currently nursing a foot injury.
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Raducanu has returned to form with an impressive run at the Miami Open as she beat the likes of eighth seed Emma Navarro and Qatar Open champion Amanda Anisimova to reach the last eight.
“I feel comfortable. I feel like in my environment, in my surroundings with the people I’m with, I feel pretty relaxed, and I can be myself and expressive and true to myself. That’s important for me,” Raducanu said.
“I’m really happy with how things are on and off the court right now and just also happy that I was able to kind of transfer on to the match court.”
Raducanu started the tournament at No 60 in the WTA Rankings, but she has already climbed 12 places in the Live Rankings and there is potential to move even higher if she beats fourth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarter-final.
She will head to the Netherlands after the Miami Open as she will represent Great Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifying round with ties scheduled against the Dutch and Germany.
After that she will make her debut at Open de Rouen with the WTA 250 taking place from 14-20 April at the Kindarena before all the WTA stars head to Spain for the WTA 1000 Madrid Open.
The post Emma Raducanu makes interesting schedule decision as she signs up for WTA 250 event appeared first on Tennis365.
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