Emma Raducanu may require a wildcard for Wimbledon if she cannot turn her fortunes around following a brutal defeat to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart.
The British star was dumped out of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in the first round after losing 6-2 6-1 to Ostapenko in just 59 minutes.
Raducanu, who reached the quarter-finals at last year’s event, will now lose 100 ranking points and is set to fall from her current position of world No.68.
The provisional rankings show her to drop to world No.83 and it could get even worse for the 20-year-old unless she can avoid an early exit in Madrid or Rome.
Raducanu is set to defend 120 ranking points at the Madrid Open next week – a WTA 1000 event – and another opening loss there would see her fall outside of the world top 100 for the first time since winning the 2021 US Open.
Raducanu could climb back up if she has a good run at the Italian Open the following week – another WTA 1000 event, where she will only be defending 10 points – but early exits at both would see her need a Wimbledon wildcard.
The tournaments in Madrid and Rome are the last two before the Wimbledon entry deadline date on May 22 and if she is ranked outside of the world top 100 then she would require a wildcard to compete at her home Grand Slam.
A speedy start in Stuttgart ð¨@JelenaOstapenk8 picks up the win over Raducanu in straight sets!#PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/fmsq5GDH2K
It has been a mixed 2023 campaign for Raducanu so far, who has once again struggled with injuries.
At the ASB Classic, her first event of the season, she progressed to the second round before being forced to withdraw with an ankle problem.
Next up was the Australian Open, where Raducanu again crashed out in the second round to current world No.6 Coco Gauff.
Raducanu produced an impressive run at Indian Wells – reaching the last 16 – but suffered a first-round exit at the Miami Open amid a wrist injury.
Her Porsche Tennis Grand Prix loss to Ostapenko, in what has her first match of the clay-court season, marked her third successive defeat on the WTA Tour.
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