Emma Raducanu, the 23-year-old British number one and 2021 US Open champion, withdrew from Wimbledon on Sunday night due to a stress fracture in her lower right leg following a final scan at the All England Club [1].
Raducanu had been managing a shin injury that began at the end of the clay court season and worsened after her run to the Queen’s Club final in London on June 22 [2, 3, 4]. She missed practice sessions on Thursday and Friday of Wimbledon week while wearing a protective orthopedic boot on her right leg [5, 6, 3, 7, 8].
Despite the pain and mobility issues, Raducanu had planned to play her first-round match against Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic on Monday at 13:00 BST on Court One, following a brief practice session on Sunday [3, 4, 9, 10]. "I'm going to do everything with my team in terms of treatment. The plan right now is to play," Raducanu said earlier on Sunday [3].
However, she cut short practice sessions on Saturday and Sunday as the leg pain persisted, raising doubts about her fitness to compete [6, 3, 8, 10]. After the final scan on Sunday night, Raducanu announced her withdrawal. "I've done everything possible to try to get to the start line but after a final scan tonight the niggle I've been managing has developed into a stress fracture. I've been medically advised to stop pushing through," she said [1].
Raducanu’s career has been disrupted frequently by injuries, illnesses including a post-viral condition earlier this year, and coaching changes [5, 6, 2, 4, 7, 11, 9, 10]. Former British number one Johanna Konta commented on Raducanu's struggles, saying, "My opinion on Emma... it’s her building, her continuing to build up her tolerance to adversity... on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis... it's much easier to feel injured" when things are tough [2, 11].
Seeded 30th at Wimbledon, Raducanu was scheduled to face Antonia Ruzic in the first round on Monday, June 29, but the match did not take place due to her withdrawal [5, 6, 3, 4, 1, 7, 8, 9, 10].
