Why tearful Emma Raducanu is now a major doubt for the Australian Open
Emma Raducanu’s hopes of playing in this month’s Australian Open have been plunged into doubt after her latest injury retirement left the Briton in tears.
The tennis star abandoned her last-16 match at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, today after appearing to roll her ankle.
It leaves Raducanu facing a race to be fit for the Australian Open, with the year’s first Grand Slam tournament due to start in Melbourne in 11 days’ time.
The 2021 US Open winner wept as she left the court after forfeiting her last-16 match against Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova at one set all.
Raducanu had looked in top form during the first set, in which she routed her opponent 6-0 in just 20 minutes.
But she was pegged back in the second set, during which she received significant strapping on her left ankle during a lengthy medical time-out.
Kuzmova broke Raducanu to go 4-2 up in the second set. And although the Briton drew level at 5-5, parity proved short-lived and the world No105 took the set 7-5 to force a decider.
Raducanu withdrew in the first game of the third set, however, dashing hopes that she might shake off her injury problems in 2023.
The 20-year-old suffered four injury retirements last season and has only just recovered from a wrist problem.
Raducanu, the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade in 1977, climbed as high as 10th in the WTA rankings in 2022 but has since fallen to No78.
It means she will not be seeded if she is fit enough to play at the Australian Open, meaning she would face a more difficult draw.
Raducanu has reached just one semi-final in 29 tournaments since her fairytale US Open triumph, in South Korea last September. She retired injured.