Emma Raducanu will miss the French Open and Wimbledon as she undergoes “minor” surgeries on both of her hands and left ankle after struggling with injuries for a prolonged period.
On Wednesday, Raducanu underwent the first of her three planned procedures – on her right hand – and she later posted a photograph of herself from her hospital bed with a cast on her hand alongside a handwritten statement on social media.
“It is safe to say the last 10 months have been difficult as I dealt with a recurring injury on a bone of both hands,” wrote Raducanu. “I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it most of this year and end of last year by reducing practice load dramatically, missing weeks of training as well as cutting last season short to try heal it, unfortunately it’s not enough.”
Raducanu will be out of competition for months. In addition to missing Roland Garros, which begins later this month, and Wimbledon in July, the 2021 US Open champion is unlikely to return in time to compete at the US Open in late August. Raducanu expects to return to action sometime this year, but she will only do so when she is ready.
Last week, Raducanu cut a forlorn figure in her press conference ahead of the Madrid Open as she attempted to compete in the WTA 1000 event before announcing her withdrawal from the tournament a day later due to a wrist injury. Her inability to compete in Madrid meant that, 20 months after winning the US Open as a qualifier without dropping a set, she will fall out of the top 100 next week.
Since her dramatic breakthrough in the summer of 2021, things have clearly not gone well for Raducanu. Her primary issues have been a constant string of injuries as she tried to adjust to the rigours of professional tennis. After struggling with a back injury during last year’s clay-court season, she suffered a side injury in Nottingham during the first few games of her grass-court campaign and barely returned in time to compete at Wimbledon.
Most recently, Raducanu struggled with injuries to her hand that forced her to withdraw from the Billie Jean King Cup finals at the end of the last year and cut her season short. At the beginning of this year, Raducanu then rolled her ankle mid-match in her first tournament of the season in Auckland. The left ankle surgery will address the injury she sustained in New Zealand.
Before each tournament, Raducanu continually described herself as merely “managing” her various injuries and she has constantly limited her time on the practice court between tournaments. While she has consistently described the ailment as a wrist injury for convenience, an issue with her bones at the top of her hands has been the specific problem.
Raducanu’s inconsistent preparation has further reflected in her results, with her compiling a losing 15-16 record over the past 52 weeks. This year, she has won consecutive matches only once. Even when she reached the fourth round of Indian Wells in March, beating two top-20 seeds in the fifth biggest tournament of the year, Raducanu was unsure of taking to the court due to her hand injury and a viral infection. “When it rains, it pours,” she said.
The prospect of three surgeries and months on the sideline is a far from ideal outcome for a 20-year-old still at the beginning of her career, but Raducanu’s absence may eventually present a silver lining.
Decisive action needed to be taken due to the quantity of her injuries and her results underlined that entering tournaments half-prepared against the best players in the world was insufficient. As a former grand slam champion, Raducanu will have unlimited WTA wildcards whenever she decides to return.
Meanwhile, Raducanu’s demeanour in Madrid underlined her frustration. Beyond her physical issues, the scrutiny of every loss and setback has been intense, unforgiving and sometimes malicious, and particularly tricky for someone who had barely experienced much hype or media coverage before her breakthrough in 2021. Much of the goodwill that seemed to follow her around that summer are long gone.
“It pains me that I will miss the summer events and I tried to downplay the issues so I thank all my fans who continued to support me when you didn’t know the facts,” concluded Raducanu.
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Permanent solutions for her physical ailments are needed not only through surgery but also by ensuring that she is fully physically prepared for the tour when she returns. Many players often find their careers and perspectives refreshed after stepping away from the grinding tour and enjoying a period on the sidelines without travelling each week and being solely focused on the sport.
One of most important factors in a positive comeback is that the player returns when they are fully physically and mentally ready to restart their career rather than rushing to make the deadline of the nearest major event. There will be more complicated decisions ahead.
