Raducanu overcomes fear of needles to manage back injury ahead of French Open

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu has overcome her phobia of needles in a bid to relieve a back injury ahead of her first-round match against China's Wang Xinyu at the French Open on Monday.

The 22-year-old suffered a back spasm at the Strasbourg Grand Prix earlier this week, and had faced a similar problem before this year's Australian Open. Raducanu said dry needling and heat therapy have helped relieve it.

The Briton reached the second round in her last Roland Garros appearance three years ago, before undergoing wrist and ankle surgeries in 2023. She has steadily climbed back into the world's top 50 after slipping out of the top 300 last year.

"It feels OK, it feels good, not 100 per cent yet, but we're working towards that. I still have a couple of days," Raducanu told BBC Sport. "I would say the one before Australia was worse. I feel like this one, I kind of caught before it fully locked up.

Order of Play | Watch Live on DStv

"At the start of the year, I was so scared of needles. It was my biggest phobia... 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."

During the claycourt season, Raducanu reached the last 16 of the Italian Open, where she lost to eventual runner-up Coco Gauff. She fell in the second round of the Madrid Open to Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.