Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal from the China Open has been confirmed, throwing her ambitious plans for the rest of this year under a huge cloud.
Confirmation that Raducau has risen to No 54 in the updated WTA Rankings highlighted the success of her comeback after she missed the second half of 2023 following double wrist and ankle surgery.
The 2021 US Open champion was sitting well outside the top 200 of the rankings heading into the grass court season in her native Britain, but a fine fun of form saw her reach the semi-finals at the Nottingham Open, the quarter-finals at the Eastbourne grass court event and the fourth round at Wimbledon.
That run took her back into the top 100 of the rankings, but her story since then has seen her slip into reverse gear.
She came under fire for her decision to skip the Olympics and then opted out of playing in qualifying for the WTA 1000 event in Toronto.
That move meant her US Open preparations consisted of just three matches at the Citi Open in Washington, meaning she was woefully under-prepared for the US Open.
Her first round exit after a defeat against Sofia Kenin inspired Raducanu to admit she needed to play more matches and those sentiments were backed up by tennis legend Martina Navratilova.
I think Emma needs to take ownership of herself, of her brand, and of her tennis career most of all,” Navratilova told Sky Sports.
“She needs to be clear who her team is, what her goal is and not let herself off the hook.
“Aryna Sabalenka, when she had problems with her serve and everybody was trying to help her, she took ownership of it and fixed it herself.
“Emma needs to be in charge and she’s old enough to know what she should be doing – surround herself with good people and then trust in them, and give it time so that you can see the results.
“Technically she is great, but she needs more match play. I still don’t think she is as fit as she should be.
“I feel like if you don’t want to play the Olympics because it’s a different surface, you need to fix your body. Maybe it’s just not equipped for this kind of stress.
“She needs to think long-term… not tomorrow or next week.”
After reaching the quarter-finals at last week’s Qatar Open, Raducanu was forced to pull out of her match against top seed Daria Kasaktina with a foot problem, which has now ended her hopes of playing in the WTA 1000 China Open this week.
Raducanu was initially included in the draw, but confirmation of her withdrawal was confirmed soon after.
This news throws into huge doubt her plan to play a host of tournaments at the back end of 2024, as she pushed to get back into the top 50 of the WTA Rankings.
We await confirmation of the scale of this latest injury, but there must now be big doubts over what comes next for the 21-year-old.
She was expected to play in qualifying for the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan next month and has also been selected to lead the Great Britain challenge at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga in November.
It is too early to say if either of those ambitions are now in doubt, but it is clear that this injury is now more than just a minor concern.
Raducanu could opt to end her 2024 season early and fly back to the UK for treatment, but that would be a real shame for a player who confirmed only last week that she was eager to finish this year on a high.
“I think the rest of the year, as long as I’m healthy, I’m going to try and finish the season and play as many matches as I can,” said Raducanu on wtatennis.com.
