LONDON: Emma Raducanu withdrew from Wimbledon on Sunday because of a stress fracture in her right leg, leaving the tournament without its highest-profile British player.
Raducanu, the 2021 US Open champion, announced the decision on Instagram on Sunday evening. She had been set to open play on No. 1 Court on Monday against Antonia Ruzic.
She had been dealing with the injury since a run to the final at Queen’s Club this month, but said earlier Sunday at a news conference that she still hoped to play at the All England Club.
“I’ve done everything possible to try to get to the start line tomorrow but after a final scan tonight, the niggle I’ve been managing has developed into a stress fracture and I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through,” Raducanu wrote. “Playing at Wimbledon, in front of a home crowd, means everything to me, so this is really difficult to process.”
Raducanu has not won a tour-level tournament before or after her surprising run to the US Open title as a qualifier at the age of 18. But she impressed at Queen’s Club with some of her best tennis since that triumph, before losing to Donna Vekic in the final.
She said earlier Sunday that she first felt her injury during the clay-court season before it was aggravated at the grass-court warmup event.
“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.”