Emma Raducanu is out of Roland Garros and Wimbledon after having surgery on her right hand, the first of three minor operations she will undergo in the coming weeks as she seeks a definitive solution to her injury problems.
Raducanu, who will also have procedures on her left hand and ankle, posted a picture of herself laying in a hospital bed with her fingers protruding from a chunky bandage.
The British 20-year-old is unlikely to return to action until September, almost certainly ruling her out of the US Open, where she became the first qualifier in history to win a grand slam title in 2021.
“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,” Raducanu wrote on social media.
“I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it for 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 [to] heal it. Unfortunately, it’s not enough.”
Raducanu, who withdrew from the Madrid Open last week just hours before her first match, has been plagued by injury problems since her fairytale run in New York. Last year, she struggled with a blistered hand at the Australian Open, pulled out against Daria Gavrilova in Mexico with a hip injury, retired with a sore back in Rome, and suffered a strained abdominal in Nottingham. A glute injury forced her to return in Seoul before a wrist problem forced her to call time on her season.
This year, Raducanu suffered an ankle injury in Auckland and has reportedly experienced pain from bone growths on the back of her hands, problems which her surgeries are expected to remedy. Having withdrawn from Madrid, Raducanu will drop out of the top 100 next week.
“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 did not know the facts,” wrote Raducanu.
While Raducanu will hardly relish going under the knife at such an early stage in her career, the hope must be that she can now put her injury woes behind her once and for all rather than trying to “manage” the various ailments that have undermined her progress.