Emma Raducanu said she was uncertain whether she would be fit to play at Wimbledon in three weeks’ time after a “freak injury” ended her Nottingham Open campaign with just seven games played.
Raducanu, the US Open champion and world No 11, called for the trainer two games into her opening match against Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic after experiencing pain in her left side. Treatment and painkillers were administered to the 19-year-old at the next changeover but, despite her best efforts to push through the pain, Raducanu was forced to retire with Golubic a break ahead at 4-3.
“It was an absolute freak injury,” said Raducanu. “It was in the first game – I think I pulled something. I’m not really sure exactly what happened.
“I was like, ‘This just doesn’t feel right at all.’ Then I was thinking, ‘First game, if you do something in the first game, people are going to be like, why did you walk out on to the court?’
“So I definitely tried to get through it, but in the second game I called the physio on at the first changeover to try to do some work. But from there, even she was like, ‘This is going to be really difficult for you to continue.’ You don’t want to stop after one or two games.”
Ironically, Raducanu had started encouragingly after dropping serve in the opening game, establishing a 3-1 lead against the stylish 55th-ranked Swiss. But some big returning earned Golubic an immediate break back, and from there Raducanu’s physical discomfort was increasingly apparent.
She received further treatment at the next change of ends, clambering gingerly to her feet afterwards, and in the next game she briefly clutched her side. As Golubic held to level the match, Raducanu made no attempt to run down a dropshot. After netting an awkward backhand to concede her next service game, Raducanu informed chair umpire Julie Kjendlie she could no longer continue.
“’I’ve got no idea,” replied Raducani after she was asked if she expected to be fit for Wimbledon, which begins on 27 June. “It could have just seized up and gone into spasm and then it is bad for a few days. I cannot diagnose myself, I will get it checked out. Then we will see from there.”
The Briton’s latest injury continues a desperate run of setbacks this season. She contracted Covid in mid-December, scuppering a planned pre-season training block, and was hampered by a painful blister on her racket hand as she fell to an early defeat at Australian Open. A left hip injury forced her to retire in the third set of an epic match against Daria Saville at the Guadalajara Open in February, before a lower back problem contributed to an early defeat in Indian Wells the following month. A blister on her right foot left Raducanu struggling to move at the Billie Jean King Cup in April, before she was beset by further back trouble last month, first in Madrid and then Rome, where she retired in her opening match against Bianca Andreescu.
“I’m obviously disappointed,” added Raducanu. “It’s really bad luck, because I feel like I’ve been putting really good work in and sometimes you just want to catch a break or something and I haven’t really. That’s out of my control, but I feel like right now, all I can do is what I’m doing and I’m putting in a lot of good work. I just need to trust that.”