Just In: Emma Raducanu sent firm four-word message after skipping US Open as woes continue

Emma Raducanu has ruled herself out of the US Open as she continues to recover from a stress fracture in her right leg, which also forced her to miss Wimbledon. It’s been a brutal season for the British No. 1, who has found fine form when she has been healthy, reaching two finals. But those moments have been few and far between, with illness and injuries forcing her to the sidelines for months at a time.

Raducanu has done all she can to stay fit during her latest injury layoff, and even shared footage of herself hitting serves while wearing a protective boot. But she was saddened to miss the US Open, where she is a former champion, on the five-year anniversary of her historic win.

“It’s a strange thing with her, isn’t it? I mean, when I saw the footage of her serving with that boot on, well, for a start, I thought she was getting a fantastic wrist snap on the serve, because you have to. I thought, blimey me. She’s bouncing it over the fence with the serve. That’s awesome,” Castle told Express Sport, speaking on behalf of Betway.

“But look, I mean, it’s obviously very sad. I mean, we haven’t seen the scans. Of course, we haven’t. That’s a medical record. We haven’t seen anything. And so, we go with what we’re told, and I have absolutely no doubt that she must be gutted to not be a part of things.

“When she has competed this year and other years, I mean, for the most part, she’s looked like she’s enjoying it. She’s got up to sort of regularly 30 or 40 in the world, which tells you how good she is and how good she can be. Forget the US Open.”

While Castle has been impressed with Raducanu’s recent results – she finished runner-up in her most recent tournament at Queen’s in June – he’s also aware that the lengthy injury layoffs won’t help her feel match sharp when she finally returns.

He continued: “That’s a really strong set of results on a consistent basis. She beats people. But her body just keeps failing. So, look, I have nothing left to offer apart from sort of sympathy for her. I know everyone’s got lots and lots of opinions and everyone likes to sort of have a pop at her every time she gets injured, but she wants to be out there.

“If she makes the decision that she’s had enough of all this, then I would understand that as well, because I mean it’s very personal to be injured all the time and to not have any continuity.

“And every time you go out on the court, the scrutiny is there, but also the unknown. If you haven’t played a match for eight weeks, 10 weeks, 12 weeks, and it gets to 4-4 in a set and you’re not an automatic pilot, you haven’t played tons of matches, and it can be tough.”

Raducanu has not been named in Britain’s squad for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, being staged in Shenzhen from September 22 to 27. It’s not known if she will attempt to make a comeback at the end of the year or wait until next season.