Emma Raducanu could play Internationaux de Strasbourg after suffering thumping defeat to Coco Gauff at Rome Open

Britain’s Emma Raducanu has hinted that she might be interested in playing in the Strasbourg Open, also known as Internationaux de Strasbourg. The 22-year-old recently featured in the ongoing Rome Open where her journey ended in the fourth-round as she lost to America’s Coco Gauff in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-2.

Raducanu spoke to the media after the match, hinting that she is keen to feature in the upcoming WTA 500 event in Strasbourg, which will begin on May 18. The former world number 10 stated that she is keen on ‘improving’ and does not want to go into ‘hiding’.

“I would love to just keep improving, keep playing. I think that’s a positive for me,” she said. “I don’t want to go and hide in a hole somewhere, I want to get back out there, so that’s good. We’ll see how it goes in the next week before the French, if I get into Strasbourg. But, for now, I’ve played a good 12 days on the trot, so I’m looking forward to a day off or so and then getting back to it.”

Those comments are interesting considering the fact that the event in Strasbourg is set to begin less than 10 days before the start of the second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open, which will officially start from May 27. Raducanu also talked about her performance in the match against Gauff, where she admitted that her opponent was too good for her on the day.

“I found it a really difficult match,” she said. “I think the conditions were very different to my last round, it was a different court and it was very bouncy, there wasn’t much clay on the court. And it was quite windy too. Coco also played a really good match and I definitely saw why she’s No 2 in the world right now. She played really well. I do think I got outplayed today but I guess I have no shame in saying that and looking forward to working to try to get better.”