Emma Raducanu’s 2026 clay-court swing has come to an abrupt end after she fell at the first hurdle at the French Open and, for now, her position in the WTA Rankings has not been affected.

Following a lengthy absence from the WTA Tour due to a prolonged post-viral infection, Raducanu made her long-awaited return at the Internationaux de Strasbourg last week, but suffered a first-round defeat to French wildcard Diane Parry.

That gave her a few extra days to prepare for Roland Garros, but her clay-court Grand Slam campaign also lasted only one match as she was dumped out by Solana Sierra with the Argentine winning their first-round encounter 6-0, 7-6 (7-4).

An emotional Raducanu admitted during her post-match press conference that it was a tough pill to swallow, saying: “I don’t think I’ve fully processed it yet, so it’s hard to speak about the match right now.

“But I have to at least take the fact that, from a set and 4-1 down, I came back and made it competitive in the second set. I’m pretty disappointed. Obviously, I wanted to do better.”

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After being bagelled by the world No 68 in the opening set, the 23-year-old also found herself 1-4 down in the second set, but staged a comeback before Sierra won in the tie-breaker.

The Brit was asked how she picks herself up and replied: “It’s very difficult. You need a lot of resilience. I’m trying my best each day, and that’s all I can ask of myself.”

Live WTA Rankings

Raducanu started the French Open at No 39 in the rankings on 1,301 points after she dropped two places following her early exit at the WTA 500 Strasbourg last week.

As things stand, she remains in that position after her first-round loss to Sierra in Paris, but she will no doubt drop in the coming days as several players below her in the rankings still have to play their opening matches.

The British No 1 reached the second round at Roland Garros in 2025, so she was defending 70 points while a first-round appearance is worth 10 points, so she will drop 60 points, putting her on 1,241 in the Live Rankings

Raducanu could fall out of the top 50 by the end of the French Open as several players are not too far behind her in the rankings.

Prize Money Earned

Raducanu had earned $385,699 in prize money in 2026 before the start of the French Open and she will add another $101,670 (£75,097/€87,000) to that total.

Her career earnings will grow to $6,444,747 once the $101K is added.