Emma Raducanu has taken aim at the “very slippery” indoor courts at the ASB Classic in Auckland after suffering an ankle injury that left her unable to complete her match against Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova.
Having stormed through the opening set, Raducanu stumbled late in the second and subsequently left the court in tears after she was forced to retire with the score locked at 6-0, 5-7.
There was no immediate sign of an injury when the former US Open champion, stranded deep behind the baseline as she served at 5-5, slipped as she attempted to change direction. But she was swiftly broken and, after Kuzmova had served out the set to love with Raducanu’s movement looking increasingly laboured, a look of concern came over the British No 1’s face as she awaited the physio.
“The courts are incredibly slick, so to be honest it’s not a surprise that this happened to someone,” said Raducanu, who was in clear distress following a fruitless attempt to continue with her ankle taped.
“It’s out of my control and after a very long day of waiting around.”
On a day of persistent rain, Raducanu was not the only player affected by delays. Venus Williams, beaten 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 by China’s Zhu Lin, started outdoors at lunchtime and finished indoors more than six hours later. Coco Gauff, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Sofia Kenin, even had time to go back to her hotel for a pre-match nap, such was the reluctance of organisers to disappoint spectators on centre court by abandoning outdoor play.
Yet that will be of scant consolation to Raducanu. After two months of toil under the guidance of Jez Green, Andy Murray’s former conditioning coach, the 20-year-old had hoped the injury woes of last year were firmly behind her. Instead, she suffered a misfortune over which she had no control, but which will inevitably (and unfairly) rekindle talk of the four injury retirements that blighted her first full season on tour.
“It’s difficult to take,” Raducanu told the New Zealand news outlet Stuff. “I’ve put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I’ve been feeling good and optimistic.
“So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle, is pretty disappointing – in the first week [of the season] as well.
“I thought I was playing some pretty decent tennis.”
So she was. After an encouraging comeback win over the rising Czech teen Linda Fruhvirtova in her first match under new coach Sebastian Sachs, Raducanu made a blistering start against Kuzmova, barely putting a foot wrong in the early stages. A break in the fifth game of the second set offered the Slovak a glimmer of hope, but Raducanu hit back to level and stood within a couple of games of victory before disaster struck.
She must now hope that the injury heals in time for the Australian Open, which begins in Melbourne on 16 January.
“We’ll assess over the next few days and see what the next steps are,” said Raducanu.
Even allowing for the possibility of a swift return to the court, Raducanu’s preparations for the first grand slam of the season will inevitably be compromised. A week of rain delays culminating with injury on an indoor court is no way to prepare for the sultry conditions that await in Melbourne, and the challenge will be compounded by the need to sacrifice practice time to recovery.
Raducanu will surely be ruing her decision not to play at the United Cup, where Great Britain’s challenge came to an end on Wednesday as the US sealed a 4-1 victory in Sydney.
Cameron Norrie earned a point for the British team with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Taylor Fritz on the opening day, following a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat for Katie Swan at the hands of Madison Keys.
But Jessica Pegula brushed aside Harriet Dart 6-2, 6-0, and Frances Tiafoe gave the US an unassailable lead with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Dan Evans. Pegula and Fritz won the concluding mixed doubles rubber against Dart and Evans 6-4, 6-4.
The US will face Poland in the last four after Iga Swiatek and Hubert Hurkacz sealed a 3-2 win over Italy with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Camilla Rosatello and Lorenzo Musetti. Italy nonetheless advance as the best performing runner-up, and will face Greece in the semi-finals after Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari went undefeated in a 3-2 win over Croatia.