Emma Raducanu has suffered another injury setback after withdrawing from the Miami Open ahead of her first-round match.

The 21-year-old, who was given a wild card, was set to play China’s Wang Xiyu on Tuesday but has been forced to pull out of the tournament due to a low back injury, the WTA has announced.

It is another blow for Raducanu in her attempts to establish herself as a consistent presence on the WTA Tour.

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The former US Open champion spent the second half of last year recovering from ankle and wrist surgery that saw her sidelined from May, the latest in a long line of injury problems since winning at Flushing Meadows in 2021.

She made her return at the start of this year and showed promising signs by making the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells before losing to Aryna Sabalenka.

Raducanu’s withdrawal in Miami casts doubt over her availability for Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup tie with France on April 12-13.

Emma Raducanu has suffered another injury setback after withdrawing from the Miami Open ahead of her first-round match.

The 21-year-old, who was given a wild card, was set to play China’s Wang Xiyu on Tuesday but has pulled out of the tournament amid reports of a lower back injury.

It is another blow for Raducanu in her attempts to establish herself as a consistent presence on the WTA Tour.

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A post shared by Emma. (@emmaraducanu)

The former US Open champion spent the second half of last year recovering from ankle and wrist surgery that saw her sidelined from May, the latest in a long line of injury problems since winning at Flushing Meadows in 2021.

She made her return at the start of this year and showed promising signs by making the third round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells before losing to Aryna Sabalenka.

Raducanu’s withdrawal in Miami casts doubt over her availability for Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup tie with France on April 12-13.

Andy Murray has revealed he is still unsure exactly when this summer he will retire as a tennis player.

Murray, 36, said last month that he “did not plan on playing much past this summer” and in an interview with The Times he explained why he cannot be more specific about when he hangs up his racket.

He said: “I would love the chance to play in another Olympics, but also genuinely only if I felt like there was a chance of winning a medal.

“I’m also very conscious that because of how amazing my experiences at the Olympics have been, I would want to be there by right and not just take one of the other guys’ spots, because it is a brilliant opportunity.

“We have top doubles players (Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski are ranked inside the world’s top 10) and also Jack (Draper), Cam (Norrie) and Evo (Dan Evans) in singles as well.”

Murray, a three-time grand slam winner, who held the number one spot in the men’s singles rankings for a total of 41 weeks in the same era as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, could focus on the doubles at the Paris Olympics, which will be played on his least favourite surface, clay.

He reached the quarter-finals in partnership with Salisbury at Tokyo 2020 and added: “When I played with Joe, I had the conversation beforehand with him that my feeling was there was a greater chance of me winning a medal in doubles than singles.”

Murray said he was “bored” of being questioned about when he will retire, saying: “It’s been happening since Wimbledon last year in most weeks. It’s something that I’ve had to talk about and entertain.

“Obviously at some stage the end will come. It’s not an easy decision to know exactly when that will be or when it should be.”

Carlos Alcaraz defeated Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (5) 6-1 on Sunday to win his second-straight BNP Paribas Open title at Indian Wells.

The world number two took only one hour and 42 minutes to claim victory, marking Alcaraz’s first title since his triumph at Wimbledon last year.

The 20-year-old Spaniard began the Indian Wells tournament with a 6-3 record on the season and an injured ankle, which he sustained during his latest outing in Rio de Janeiro.

Medvedev started strong in the match’s opening rounds, establishing a 3-0 lead as Alcaraz’s errors began to pile up.

It did not take long for Alcaraz to find his feet though, breaking back before matching the world number four to force a tie-break.

He almost let an early lead in the tie-break slip by, but recovered again to take the first set in just over an hour.

Once he had broken out in front, the world number two was barely troubled in the second set en route to retaining his Indian Wells title.

He told reporters on-court after the match that the win had bolstered his confidence following his Rio injury scare.

“Winning this tournament means a lot to me because the week before it began, I had a lot of doubts about my ankle,” Alcaraz said.

“I remember my first practice here was just 30 minutes with no movement, and probably the first practice with really good tennis players was really tough for me because I thought I was not going to play my best.”

He added: “I was not feeling well with my ankle, so a lot of doubts for me. But once I stepped on the court, the first round, I started to feel better.”

World number one Iga Swiatek coasted to victory over Maria Sakkari to win the BNP Paribas Open final.

In a repeat of the 2022 final at Indian Wells, Swiatek proved too strong and won her second WTA title of the year with a straightforward 6-4 6-0 success.

Swiatek, 22, never looked in trouble and once again showed why she has spent nearly two years atop the women’s rankings.

The Polish star raced into a lead as stars including Zendaya and Tom Holland watched on, sealing the opening set with a perfect forehand drive after Sakkari had briefly looked to fight back by breaking to level at 3-3.

The second set was even more of a one-sided affair as Greece’s Sakkari, beaten in the final two years ago 6-4 6-1, could not win a game this time around.

Swiatek needed just 20 minutes to wrap it up and now plots victory at the Miami Open.

“Every year I come here, I feel a really positive vibe,” she said on court following her latest success.

“I want to thank my team, for every little thing we work on, which ends up working. For sure we’re going to celebrate – many things to celebrate.”

World number one Iga Swiatek coasted to victory over Maria Sakkari to win the BNP Paribas Open final.

In a repeat of the 2022 final at Indian Wells, Swiatek proved too strong and won her second WTA title of the year with a straightforward 6-4 6-0 success.

Swiatek, 22, never looked in trouble and once again showed why she has spent nearly two years atop the women’s rankings.

The Polish star raced into a lead as stars including Zendaya and Tom Holland watched on, sealing the opening set with a perfect forehand drive after Sakkari had briefly looked to fight back by breaking to level at 3-3.

The second set was even more of a one-sided affair as Greece’s Sakkari, beaten in the final two years ago 6-4 6-1, could not win a game this time around.

Swiatek needed just 20 minutes to wrap it up and now plots victory at the Miami Open.

“Every year I come here, I feel a really positive vibe,” she said on court following her latest success.

“I want to thank my team, for every little thing we work on, which ends up working. For sure we’re going to celebrate – many things to celebrate.”

Carlos Alcaraz ended Jannik Sinner’s winning run as he claimed a place in the BNP Paribas Open final 1-6 6-3 6-2.

Australian Open champion Sinner had won 16 straight matches to begin the year – and 19 in all stretching back to last season – but the number three seed had no answer to the Spaniard after winning the first set.

Defending Indian Wells champion Alcaraz was broken twice after a three-hour rain delay as Sinner raced to a 6-1 first set victory.

But having faced deuce on his opening service game of the second set, the Spaniard grabbed the initiative with an early break.

He saved break points in successive games and served out to level the match.

Alcaraz, who would have surrendered the world number two spot to Sinner with a defeat, again broke early in the deciding set.

He dropped just three points on his serve, rattling off five straight games to lead 5-1, clinching victory on his third match point in just over two hours.

“I stayed strong mentally,” said Alcaraz. “I think that’s a really important part in this game. You have to be strong mentally if you want to overcome these kind of matches, a set down against someone that’s playing an unbelievable game.

“I changed my style a little bit, I changed my game a little bit and I think it worked very well. I’m really happy to beat Jannik and be in the final again.”

Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) executive director Ahmad Nassar believes tennis should do more to protect players after Simona Halep was allowed to return to tennis.

Halep was suspended in October 2022 after failing two drug tests following the US Open. The former world number one was initially banned for four years, but a ruling earlier in March by the Court of Arbitration for Sport slashed her suspension to nine months.

The reduced ban means Halep can immediately return to tennis, and the two-time grand-slam winner is set to make her return at the upcoming Miami Open.

When asked whether players in situations like Halep's should receive help to gain back what she has lost during her time away, Nassar told Stats Perform: "Should there be? Absolutely. Will there be? Probably not. For tennis, this is a much broader issue in terms of governance. 

"Think about Simona’s case. Where did this happen, at the US Open? And so you give the Tour the cover to say 'well, it wasn't actually one of our events'. It was, and we didn't admit it. There has to be an answer.

"The net effect is the player gets doubly penalised."

Now 32, Halep will be a wildcard at the Miami Open.

In Nassar's view, that is an opportunity that not every player in a similar situation would be fortuitous enough to receive.

"I don't want to use the word lucky," Nassar explained. "But Simona is unique in the sense that she's already gotten, 24 hours later, a wildcard to Miami, a WTA 1000 event.

"Ninety-nine per cent of players who go through anything like this will not get that. What do they have to do? Well, they have to go play maybe universal tennis events, and then WTA 125s and get back into it. That could take a year, easily.

"Getting back, building your ranking up, getting your points up, getting the money to be able to go back out there. It becomes really overly punitive at that point."

Nassar is hopeful that Halep can return to her top form, which saw her claim French Open and Wimbledon triumphs in 2018 and 2019 respectively.

He added: "What I'll say is this. Athletes who have been unfairly treated often use that as fuel and motivation when they're back. And so I would not be surprised in the least if that was the case.

"But at the same time, I don't want to make light of what Simona and other athletes who go through this type of nightmare have to endure. We definitely wish her all the best."

Nassar also called out some in tennis for their lack of initial support for Halep, continuing: "It's been interesting to see that decision come out.

"It's like everybody is saying 'welcome back' with open arms. And I have to ask myself, where were these people for 17 months?

"The process was not okay. And it's still not okay."

Maria Sakkari fought off a Coco Gauff fightback to book a place in the final of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

She will face top seed Iga Swiatek after beating the American third seed 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-2 in a lengthy, rain-interrupted battle which finished after 1am.

Gauff broke the Greek ninth seed early, but Sakkari fought back to take a first set interrupted by a short rain delay 6-4.

A lengthy break for the weather delayed the start of the second set, Sakkari settling quickest on the resumption and breaking the American twice to lead 5-2.

But she could not serve out the match, despite having a match point, as Gauff broke back and took the set on the tie break.

Gauff broke again at the start of the third set, but Sakkari dug in and rattled off four games in a row to take control again.

And this time she was able to complete the job, breaking Gauff again to complete the win after two hours, 41 minutes on court.

Swiatek’s path to the final, in which she has lost just 20 games, was more straightforward as she saw off Martya Kostyuk 6-2 6-1.

The world number one needed little more than an hour to see off the 31st seed without facing a break point.

Emma Raducanu has been named in Great Britain’s team to face France in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifying round next month.

The 21-year-old former US Open champion will compete in the event for the first time in two years.

British number one Katie Boulter, Harriet Dart and Heather Watson make up the quartet.

Captain Anne Keothavong told the LTA website: “I’m delighted to be travelling with a full-strength team off the back of some terrific results recently.

“The French side will present a significant challenge as always, but we all know how representing GB inspires us and each year we are getting stronger and better as a team.”

The qualifying round takes place in  Le Portel, France, on April 12-13, on indoor clay.

Great Britain missed out on the finals last year after losing to France in Coventry.

Manchester’s AO Arena will again host a group stage of the Davis Cup Finals in September, the International Tennis Federation has confirmed.

A record crowd for the competition in this country of 13,000 saw Leon Smith’s Great Britain team triumph in a nail-biting tie against France last year to book their place in the Final Eight event in Malaga, where they lost to Serbia in the quarter-finals.

The ITF all but announced in November that Manchester would again be a host city and that has now been rubber-stamped, with the challenge for organisers to try to boost crowds for the non-GB ties.

Britain will find out their three opponents for the group stage, which takes place from September 10-15, at the draw next Tuesday.

LTA director of major events and digital, Chris Pollard, said: “We are delighted to bring the Davis Cup Finals group stage back to Manchester again this September.

“We saw first-hand how the fans embraced the event and how their support helped our team win their group in 2023.

“We are looking forward to working with our partners at Manchester City Council and Marketing Manchester to make the Davis Cup even bigger and better this year, helping open up our sport to many more people.”

Britain were given a wild card into the group stage along with Spain, while champions Italy and runners-up Australia also avoided having to play in last month’s qualifiers.

Bologna and Valencia join Manchester as returning hosts while Zhuhai will also stage a group despite China not being among the 16 competing nations.

Simona Halep may have celebrated the reduction of an initial four-year ban but tennis must be wary of players "losing faith in the system" after her alleged doping-related punishment.

That was the thoughts of Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) representative Ahmad Nassar after supporting Halep through the appeal process after she was banned by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) for "intentional" doping offences.

The two-time grand slam champion remained staunch in her defence of innocence and eventually succeeded earlier this week as the ban that was initially set to last until 2026 was reduced to a nine-month suspension, which was backdated and allowed her straight back on the court.

"That's the shame of this – there are two impacts to this and they're at different ends of the spectrum," Nassar told Stats Perform.

"One is losing faith in the system and, the other is being pretty darn scared of the system.

"I never thought this could happen to even a former number one grand slam champion, or especially, a lower-ranked player that just gets completely rolled over.

"It really can happen to anyone. If we're making people lose faith in it, and simultaneously petrified of it – that's not a good system that is working."

Halep will return at the Hard Rock Stadium in Florida, where the action starts on March 17, as the former world number one marks a comeback tournament with her record – and reputation – reinstated.

Questions remain for Nassar, though, as repeated calls persist for improvements in the regulatory system with reform needed in his eyes.

"This is the end of Simona's nightmare chapter dealing with this, and may she never have any dealing with this again," he continued.

"But we just know that the process out there right now is a ticking time bomb. Other players are still navigating it, there are players to come who will sadly have to navigate it.

"The goal of the programme is a clean sport, and a fair score for first and foremost, the players.

"So how do we how do we strike that balance? Within the current system, there is a lot of room for improvement.

"How do we ease that burden without losing sight of the first goal, which is nobody wants to play in a clean sport more than the players themselves? They are most affected if somebody is cheating."

World number two Carlos Alcaraz raced into the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a straight-sets win over Fabian Marozsan in Indian Wells.

The Spaniard, bidding to become the first player to defend the title since Novak Djokovic in 2016, won 6-3 6-3 in an hour and a quarter.

Hungarian Marozsan, 24, came into the match with a rare winning head-to-head record against Alcaraz, having beaten him on the Rome clay last year in their only previous meeting, one of the shock results of the season.

The Wimbledon champion quickly went about taking his revenge, winning four games in a row from 3-2 down to take the first set.

A solitary break for 4-2 in the second proved enough to wrap up the match and book a last-eight meeting with Alexander Zverev.

“Honestly I was nervous before the match, playing against someone who beat you, let’s say easily, it was difficult for me to approach the game,” Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.

“But I’m happy with the win. Today I knew better what I needed to do than in Rome.”

Zverev took down Australian Alex de Minaur after he lost the first set before coming back to win 5-7 6-2 6-3.

Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner continued his stellar start to the year, recording his 18th straight win in a victory over American Ben Shelton 7-6 (4) 6-1.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 11th seed from Greece, was on the end of an upset as he slipped to a 6-2 6-4 defeat to Czech youngster Jiri Lehecka.

World number one Iga Swiatek will take on Caroline Wozniacki in the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals at Indian Wells.

It took little more than an hour for Poland’s Swiatek to beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva in straight sets 6-1 6-2.

Wozniacki, from Denmark, defeated three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber in 90 minutes 6-4 6-2, advancing to her first WTA 1000 quarter-final since 2019 after returning to the tour.

After her match, former world number one Wozniacki said she will have to play her “best tennis to compete” with Swiatek.

“I think I have obviously commentated some of her matches,” she said. “I know how she’s playing. Obviously she’s playing good tennis, playing powerfully.

“I practiced with her as well a few times after I have come back, during the US Open as well. I know how she plays, but it’s one thing knowing how she plays and also playing against her in a full match.”

Swiatek said on court that she has great respect for Wozniacki.

“I think she’s playing great even after the maternity break. She was fighting to come back.

“I have huge respect. I’m going to prepare like any other, but off the court she’s a great person.”

Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk defeated Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-1, while Russian Anastasia Potapova defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini 7-5 0-6 6-3.

World number one Novak Djokovic has been dumped out of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells by lucky loser Luca Nardi.

Nardi, 20, booked a last-16 meeting with American Tommy Paul as he won 6-4 3-6 6-3.

Currently 123 in the world, the Italian is the lowest-ranked player to beat Djokovic at ATP Masters 1000 or Grand Slam level.

“I don’t know [how I held my nerve],” he said. “I think it is a miracle, because I am a 20-year-old guy, 100 in the world, and beating Novak. It’s crazy.”

Sealing his victory with his sixth ace, Nardi hit 16 winners in the final set against just two from the five-times Indian Wells champion.

“It’s fine. You know, it’s part of the sport,” said Djokovic. “You just have to accept it. Some you win; some you lose. Hopefully I’ll win some more and still keep going.

“I guess every trophy that eventually comes my way is going to be great, obviously to break the kind of negative cycle a little bit I’m having in the last three, four tournaments where I haven’t really been close to my best.”

Paul reached the last 16 with a 6-4 6-4 win over France’s Ugo Humbert while seventh seed Holger Rune, ninth seed Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz and Grigor Dimitrov all moved through in straight sets.

But British number one Cameron Norrie went out after a dramatic 6-7 (5) 7-6 (5) 6-3 defeat to French veteran Gael Monfils.

The British number one led by a set and 3-0 before falling victim to a stirring comeback from the 37-year-old.

Monfils clawed back to level in an extraordinary second set tie-break in which he won a point with an underarm serve before clinching the set at the end of a stunning 31-stroke rally.

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