The prestigious fortnight of tennis, Wimbledon, has begun today, Monday the 29th of June. However, British No. 1 and seed no. 30, Emma Raducanu, won’t be a part of it. She withdrew on Sunday evening.
Raducanu withdrew due to a stress fracture. She has been dealing with a “niggle” in her lower leg since she reached the HSBC Championships finals at Queen’s earlier this month. On her Instagram Stories, she announced her withdrawal from the tournament.
“I’ve done everything possible to try to get to the start line tomorrow but after a final scan tonight … I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through.”
“Playing at Wimbledon, in front of a home crowd, means everything to me, so this is really difficult to process.”
Concerns grew about the 2021 US Open champion when she was spotted wearing a protective boot on Wednesday. While Emma returned to the court on Saturday to test her fitness, she wore strapping on her lower right leg during a training session with her team. Later, she cut short a practice session with Anna Kalinskaya.
While speaking to the media at her pre-tournament press conference, Emma appeared confident about competing. She said she was doing “everything” to be fit for the tournament; however, she did not give a definitive percentage for actually stepping onto the court. Additionally, she also stated that she “probably pushed beyond anything that I would for any other tournament” in her efforts.
“I think risk is always a factor,” she said. “I think a lot of players are probably managing things. I think there are certain tournaments you’re willing to do more for, put yourself on the line more for, risk more for. For me, of course, Wimbledon is that.”
“It’s difficult waking up each day, not knowing how it’s going to be,” she added. “Not knowing whether you’re in or out causes lot of uncertainty. All I can do is my best every day. That’s what I’m doing, whether that’s the treatments, whether that’s the practice. I know I’m putting everything I possibly can into each day. With the people around me, they’re pushing me in the right way.”
For Raducanu, the stress fracture is the latest of the problems. Before this, she wasn’t able to train for most of the off-season due to another foot injury, and then struggled with a virus for much of February. The 23-year-old then missed WTA 1000 events in Madrid, Miami and Rome due to the aftereffects of the illness, and confirmed she had been dealing with leg discomfort since the end of the clay-court swing.
“Queen’s, during that week, was a lot of load for me,” she said. “Five matches after having not competed for a while. But I’m just managing it with my team as best as I possibly can, exhausting all options and doing what we can.”
