Emma Raducanu quits in Doha only two days after losing Transylvania final

Raducanu made a good start against Camila Osorio, a Colombian qualifier ranked No80 in the world, easing to the first set in 38 minutes. But she buckled amid resistance from her opponent in the second set and quit the match after only two games of the decider at 2-6, 6-4, 2-0 down.

Once again, Raducanu had her blood pressure checked by a tournament physio during a medical timeout shortly before her retirement. This is now the fourth time in four months that she has required a check of her vitals after medics did the same during her last two matches of the 2025 season.

Raducanu revealed on Saturday that she had “been battling a bit of a chest infection” recently, so it is curious that she decided not to rest this week, instead of rushing to the Middle East. She will now have at least five days off before her next scheduled tournament in Dubai from Sunday.

Understandably there will be raised eyebrows that Raducanu has succumbed to an ailment once again. This is the ninth retirement of the 23-year-old’s career on the WTA Tour, coming four months after her eighth in the first round of October’s Wuhan Open.

Raducanu had actually shown better stamina and endurance for most of the 2025 season after five months of work with Maria Sharapova’s former fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura. But he suddenly departed her team during the summer and she worked with various personnel on an ad-hoc basis for several months.

Emma Stewart, a former WTA physio who was also employed by British Rowing, joined Raducanu’s team during the off-season in November and takes responsibility for strength and conditioning. She was absent from Raducanu’s box in Cluj last week, but was due to land in Doha on Monday evening about three hours after the match came to a premature conclusion.

Last week was only the second time since Raducanu’s triumph as a qualifier at the 2021 US Open that she has played five consecutive matches. She has been so inconsistent across the tour that there was only one other instance of her playing five matches in a row at a tournament, at the 2025 Miami Open.

As soon as Raducanu called a medical timeout on Monday, it was clear that she was not fit enough to win the match. The tournament physio showed the blood-pressure reading to her twice and had a short conversation before she decided to play one more game. It was another curious choice as she did not bother attempting to return several serves before approaching the net to offer a handshake to Osorio.

Serena could return as soon as this month

Meanwhile, Serena Williams is eligible to return to professional tennis as soon as February 23 after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) confirmed that she will soon complete her six-month reinstatement to the sport’s anti-doping testing pool.

The 44-year-old has not yet confirmed that she will make a comeback, but did not rule out the prospect during an appearance on NBC’s Today last month. “I don’t know, I’m just going to see what happens,” she answered awkwardly under interrogation from the presenter Savannah Guthrie.

Insiders believe that Williams will almost certainly compete again in some form, whether it be singles or doubles, as there would be no other viable reason for subjecting herself to the sport’s onerous testing requirements. One potential option for a comeback is the Indian Wells Open next month, although she could also feasibly play either the Merida Open or Austin Open this month.

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