Just In: Emma Raducanu pulls out of China Open after Brit suffered major blow
Emma Raducanu has seemingly withdrawn from the China Open despite being named on the entry list earlier this month. She hasn’t played a competitive match in three months, losing to Donna Vekic in the Queen’s Club final the last time she appeared on court. Raducanu didn’t feature at the US Open because of a stress fracture in her leg, the latest in a long list of injury setbacks over the last few years.
It was hoped thst Raducanu would be able to return to action at the China Open, which starts at the end of September and extends into October. However, it appears the 23-year-old has delayed her comeback plans, with her name having been quietly removed from the entry list.
Last week, Raducanu released footage of a practice session at the National Tennis Centre, which showed her working on her serve.
However, she didn’t have an opponent to hit the ball back to her, indicating that she remains in the early stages of her latest injury comeback push.
As a result of her name leaving the China Open entry list, it remains to be seen when Raducanu will eventually return to the court.
She recently slipped to 96th in the WTA rankings in another significant blow, having been ranked well inside the top 40 only a few months ago.
Many pundits have suggested that Raducanu could be sidelined for an extended period, with Andy Roddick among those to have discussed her continued absence.
Speaking on his podcast, Roddick said: “We might not even see her for the rest of this year,. It just stinks because she is so good and it’s just the stop and start of things.
“You can’t get around a stress fracture, that’s not a pain tolerance thing at all. It has to heal or you are going to cause extreme long-term damage. It just stinks.
“She could be such a bright spot for the Tours and it just seems like there are speed bumps all the time, which is just unfortunate. It sucks.
“I hope she gets better. She was playing great at Queen’s too, like she was going to blow the roof off of Wimbledon. She is so good and so injured all the time.
“It’s got to be kind of depressing for her too. I keep thinking we are going to get six months where we are going to be able to go and play and do all the things and we are just not able to get it, which is unfortunate.”
