EMMA ‘NO IDEA’ IF SHE’LL BE FIT FOR WIMBLEDON
RADUCANU is a doubt for Wimbledon this month after a ‘freak’ injury forced her to retire just 33 minutes into her first grass-court action of the year. The 19-year-old felt pain in her left side from her first service game against Switzerland’s
Viktorija Golubic at the Nottingham Open yesterday. She then pulled out while trailing 4-3 in the first set after receiving treatment and painkillers. The British No 1 will have a scan to determine the nature and severity of the injury and admitted she does not know if she will be fit to play at the All England Club, with the Championships starting in less than three weeks. Asked if Wimbledon was still a possibility, Raducanu said: ‘I have no idea. It could have just seized up and gone into spasm and then it is really bad for a few days. ‘I cannot diagnose myself. I will get it checked out. I need to get a scan first. I am not going to Google Doctor myself! ‘I will get it checked out, then we will see from there.’ Raducanu has now retired injured from three tournaments since her remarkable US Open triumph back in September.
Emma Raducanu said she did not know if she would be fit for Wimbledon after a ‘freak’ injury forced her to retire hurt just seven games into her first grass- court game of the summer.
The 19-year- old, who has now been forced to retire from three tournaments since winning the US Open last September, said she felt pain in her left side from the moment she served in her nottingham Open first- round match against the world no 55 Viktorija Golubic.
She took painkillers and was laid out flat on court for treatment during two change of ends, later declaring that she would seek a scan.
Even a period of enforced rest would affect her preparations for Wimbledon — which starts in 19 days — with severe doubts about her fulfilling a planned appearance at next week’s tournament in Birmingham, the Rothesay classic.
asked if she felt in her heart that Wimbledon was a possibility, she said: ‘I have no idea. It could have just seized up and gone into spasm and then it is really bad for a few days. I have no idea. I cannot diagnose myself. I will get it checked out.’
She said she had no idea of the prognosis. ‘Well, I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I need to get a scan first. I am not going to Google doctor myself! I will get it checked out. Then we will see from there.’
The pain was ‘on the side of my body. maybe around my rib,’ she said. an abdominal issue would be a different complaint from the persistent back pain which caused her to retire from her first-round Italian Open match in may, after experiencing similar trouble in madrid and Stuttgart.
She also played through back pain for Great Britain at a Billie Jean cup qualifier in Prague two months ago.
asked if this seemed unconnected to the back trouble, she said: ‘Yeah, completely. It was just the first game, something random. an absolute freak. I think I pulled something, I am not really sure what exactly happened. an absolute freak injury. I don’t know what I could have done more about it. That is it.’
Raducanu clutched the left side of her back after her first attempt to serve, in an opening game she lost, having double-faulted on the third point. Briefly, there were signs of the Raducanu who Wimbledon audiences remember on her way to reaching the fourth round from last summer — making a fist with her hand after a number of strong, winning groundstrokes.
She has been undertaking more gym work and looks physically stronger and more muscular than the 18- year- old who wowed Wimbledon a year ago. She has spoken of being ‘more physical’ on the court. She led 3-1.
But the injury was clearly making serving difficult. She lost three of her four service games before retiring after 35 minutes with the match at 4-3 in her Swiss opponent’s favour. By the end, she was struggling to reach for ground strokes on the backhand side.
She said: ‘I was like, “This doesn’t feel right at all”. and then I was thinking, “I don’t know how I am going to do this”. But if you do something in the first game people will be like, “Well why did you walk on to the court?”
‘I definitely tried to get through it but in the second game I called the physio on and at the first changeover she was trying to do some work but even from there she told me it was going to be really difficult to continue.’
Raducanu couldn’t say if she would play in Birmingham. ‘I haven’t thought about it to be honest,’ she said. ‘Having gone out of the way I did, I am not exactly thinking about next week.’