Emma Raducanu offers worrying update on back injury ahead of French Open

Emma Raducanu says her back problem is still “not 100 per cent” ahead of her first-round appearance at the French Open.

The British number two had a back spasm while playing in Strasbourg on Wednesday, a similar injury to one she suffered before the Australian Open in January.

Raducanu has been undergoing treatment including acupuncture to ease the problem – despite having a phobia of needles.

“Yeah, it’s not feeling 100 per cent,” she said. “I had a spasm in Strasbourg, and just been trying to manage it as best I can, doing treatment.

“I’ve been on the practice court last night and this morning. it felt OK, but obviously it’s different playing a match. I’m trying to do everything to get up to speed as fast as possible.

“I would say the one before Australia was worse. I feel like this one I kind of caught before it fully locked up. So I think the treatment is a lot of it with the physios, a lot of it with heat. Been doing some needling.

“At the start of the year I was so scared of needles. It was my biggest phobia. That was the only way I was going to be able to play Australia. So since then, I’ve been kind of dipping my toes into it because I know it helps even though I’m really scared of them. That’s how I’ve kind of been trying to manage it.”

Raducanu was able to finish her second-round match, a 4-6 6-1 6-3 defeat to American Danielle Collins.

The 22-year-old had taken a wild card to enter the final warm-up tournament for Roland Garros – not something she has usually done in the build-up to a grand slam.

The former US Open champion raised eyebrows by skipping last year’s tournament, as well as the Olympics at the same venue.

“I think I’m happy to have put some more time in on the clay this year,” she added.

“I think last year and the years before I probably would have, now looking back, preferred to have done more on the clay so that this year it didn’t necessarily feel brand new and just have more time on it, more experience banked.

“I think doing well at Wimbledon helped with that decision, but I think it wasn’t necessarily just that I skipped the clay season to get ready for the grass.

“It wasn’t just that. I had a few things off the court, just trying to manage everything and clear my head and get in a good spot for Wimbledon and the grass.

“Luckily that happened, but I don’t think what I did last year I would prefer to do going forward, and that would be my strategy.”

Raducanu faces China’s Wang Xinyu in the first round on Monday and could meet four-time champion Iga Swiatek in round two.