Injured Raducanu fears she will miss Wimbledon
British No 1’s latest setback in Nottingham only adds to an injury-prone reputation that could dog her fledgling career
Teenager forced to concede match after ‘freak’ side strain
US Open champion facing fight to be fit for home slam
Emma Raducanu has admitted she has “no idea” if she will be fit for Wimbledon after her injury curse struck again less than three weeks before the Championships.
In her first outing on home turf since her US Open triumph, Raducanu suffered an “absolute freak” side strain in the opening game of Rothesay Open Nottingham match against Viktorija Gol ubic and had to retire half an hour later.
Following a medical timeout and further treatment, the Briton finally succumbed to the pain when a break down at 4-3 in the first set, raising fears for her fitness for Wimbledon.
“I’ve got no idea,” Raducanu replied when asked if she would be ready for the Championships, adding she expected to have a scan to determine the extent of the injury. “First game, absolute freak. I think I pulled something. I’m not really sure what happened.” It was clear something was not right when she was immediately broken but she went into the changeover 2-1 up, despite asking for the trainer.
A couple of painkillers and several minutes of manipulation later she was back on court. She even broke her Swiss opponent to go 3-1 up, but the injury was clearly affecting the 19-year-old’s ability to serve and she lost three games in quick succession before deciding enough was enough.
Raducanu said: “I was thinking, first game even, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do this’. But if you do something in the first game, people are going to be like, ‘Well, why did you walk out onto the court?’
“So, I definitely tried to get through it. But, in the second game, I called the physio on and, the first changeover, she was trying to do some work. But, from there, even she was like, ‘This is going to be really difficult for you to continue’.”
With her latest breakdown, Emma Raducanu is fast developing a reputation for being injury-prone and, as so many in sport before her who have been given that unwelcome tag know, it is not an easy one to shake off.
From Michael Owen in football to Manu Tuilagi in rugby and Laura Robson in tennis, injury woes have caused careers to stall for years and left mental challenges to overcome.
Raducanu is still only in her first year on tour, but her pattern of physical niggles went from worrying to alarming in Nottingham, as it now threatens to derail the high point of the season: a homecoming at Wimbledon.
Forced to retire from her Rothesay Open first-round match against Viktorija Golubic after just over half an hour, Raducanu, 19, cut a disappointed figure.
She called her as-yet undiagnosed left-side issue a “freak” injury, which began from the first point of the match, but expressed a determination not to quit immediately, in order to avoid uncomfortable questions about her health walking on to the court.
Her attempts to keep playing through the pain into the seventh game may have done more damage than was necessary – considering Nottingham is a low-level event and just 19 days out from Wimbledon. But her self-conscious post-match admission betrayed anxieties she may be feeling because of her slew of injury-related withdrawals.
“I’m obviously disappointed and it’s really bad luck, sometimes, because I feel like I’ve been putting really good work in and it’s almost like you just want to catch a break or something,” she said. “But I haven’t really, and that’s out of my control.
“I feel like, right now, all I can focus on is what I’m doing and I think that I’m putting in a lot of good work and I just need to trust that it’ll come and, right now, it’s happening for a reason, and I’m exactly where I kind of need to be.”
Raducanu’s body has buckled on all surfaces this year: hard, clay and now grass courts. Yesterday’s retirement was her third in four months.
There were signs of her physical fragility at the end of last season, too, when a back spasm affected her in her first-round loss at the Linz Open.
At the start of this year, blisters on a hand played a part in her secondround loss to Danka Kovinic at the Australian Open. In Guadalajara in February, Raducanu retired from her first-round match with a hip issue. A week later, she withdrew from Monterrey, citing the same problem. A stiff back affected her at Indian Wells, and then returned two months later at the Italian Open in May, when she retired in the first round. Her Billie Jean King Cup performances in April were marred by a foot blister.
Upon her second-round exit from the French Open, she said one of the biggest positives she was taking home was how strong and healthy she felt on court. But less than a fort
These repetitive physical roadblocks show a level of fragility that is cause for major concern
night on, pain in her left side has cut short her Nottingham hopes.
Raducanu remains very new to the rigours of top-level tennis. But these repetitive physical roadblocks show a level of fragility that is cause for major concern.
Last month, Raducanu said she had stepped up her gym regime to bolster her fitness, but her stopstart career is not allowing her to build a consistent training plan.
No one was more surprised at her forced retirement than her opponent. “I’m a little bit shocked. I am still in my match focus and bubble,” said Golubic, who was the first to console her opponent as she trudged off court. “I feel sorry for Emma.”
Raducanu’s unconventional coaching set-up may not help either. Though she had injury trouble during her five months with Torben Beltz, her decision to now work without a full-time coach may mean she struggles with continuity.
She has members of the Lawn Tennis Association coaching staff on
board to help, including head of women’s tennis Iain Bates. She admitted this week that the grass season was the busiest time for LTA staff, who are spread thinly across all the British talent.
Results were not the focus, she admitted, but even that does not appear to be her issue. Opportunities simply to play tennis unhindered are becoming increasingly difficult to come by.