Emma Raducanu has slipped five positions in the WTA rankings, now sitting at 28th in the world following her withdrawal from the Miami Open due to illness.
The British number one's absence from the prestigious tournament has proved particularly costly.
She reached the quarter-finals of the same WTA 1000 event twelve months ago, meaning her non-participation this year has resulted in the loss of 185 ranking points.
The 23-year-old had been making steady progress up the standings throughout 2026, with several encouraging performances lifting spirits among British tennis supporters.
Emma Raducanu has fallen five places in the WTA rankings
|GETTY
However, this setback marks an unwelcome interruption to what had been a promising campaign for the former US Open champion.
Raducanu's slide has allowed several competitors to overtake her in the standings, including Marta Kostyuk, Marie Bouzkova and American Emma Navarro.
The latter's advancement is somewhat ironic, given that Navarro's own poor form earlier in March had inadvertently aided Raducanu's climb.
Navarro, the 24-year-old daughter of billionaire investor Ben Navarro, has exited at the first round in her last three WTA tournaments.
Emma Raducanu has made several changes to her coaching set-up over the years
|GETTY
Yet Raducanu's decline has been sufficiently steep that the American has risen without even competing.
The Kent-born player achieved a career-best ranking of 10th in July 2022, just a year after her remarkable triumph at Flushing Meadows.
She subsequently fell to 285th towards the end of 2023 amid persistent injury troubles.
Raducanu has also made changes to her coaching setup in recent weeks.
She re-appointed Mark Petchey shortly before the Indian Wells tournament, having previously parted ways with Fernando Roig, who formerly worked with Rafael Nadal.
The British star's last competitive outing came at Indian Wells at the beginning of March, where she suffered a comprehensive second-round defeat to Amanda Anisimova.
The American dispatched Raducanu 6-1, 6-1 in a decidedly one-sided affair.
That loss preceded her illness-enforced absence from Miami, leaving the former Grand Slam champion without match practice for several weeks.
Her supporters will hope the coaching reunion with Petchey can help restore momentum when she returns to the tour.