Emma Raducanu leaves tennis fans saddened after latest withdrawal
Emma Raducanu’s miserable winning streak continues, the British tennis player has announced Withdrawal from this week’s WTA tournament in Austin, Texas. The 2021 US Open winner took to social media on Sunday night to announce that she is suffering from tonsillitis and will not be able to compete in the inaugural ATX Open.
The 20-year-old has not played since losing to Coco Gauff at the Australian Open in January. She has only played four games this season rolled her ankle in Auckland ahead of the Melbourne Park Grand Slam.
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“I’m sorry to have to withdraw from the ATX Open,” she said. “I am currently suffering from tonsillitis and will not be able to compete this week. Thank you for the tournament and the great hospitality here in Austin.”
Raducanu spent several days practicing in Texas but was forced to retire on the eve of the event. However, it doesn’t look like she will be out for long, writing on Instagram: “Sad to miss Austin but on the mend.”
The British No. 1 will now travel to Indian Wells to prepare for the WTA 1000 event while also aiming for an appearance at the Miami Open. The 20-year-old became a star at the 2021 US Open when she became the first qualifier in tennis history to win a Grand Slam.
Since then, however, she has struggled for consistency while also suffering a series of injuries that have hampered her progress. She ended her 2022 season early after sustaining a wrist injury in October before being forced to retire in Auckland in early January after injuring her ankle.
“It’s hard to take. I’ve done a lot of physical work over the last few months and I’m feeling good and optimistic,” she said in Auckland. “So to be stopped by a freak injury is pretty disappointing, even in the first week. I thought I played pretty decent tennis.
“The courts are incredibly slick, very slippery, so honestly it’s no surprise that that happened to anyone. It’s out of my control and after a very long day of waiting. But we will assess it in the next few days and see what the next steps are.”
Raducanu also retired from the Korea Open semifinals in September with a buttock problem. That followed a first-round failure at the Nottingham Open ahead of Wimbledon, although Raducanu eventually recovered and reached the second round of the grass-court major.
When she played against Daria Gavrilova in Mexico last year because of a hip problem, she was eliminated in the first of four halftime games last year. At the Rome Masters in May she retired again, this time with back problems.
Emma Raducanu became their fifth coach in the last 18 months
Raducanu has also gone through a number of coaching changes over the past 12 months and is now her fifth different mentor. The 20-year-old is currently working with Sebastien Sachs, who guided Belinda Bencic to an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020 and has previously worked with former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.
And in a candid interview with tennis majorsformer coach Dmitry Tursunov claimed there are a number of ‘red flags’ during his time at Raducanu. “We didn’t agree on the terms and there were some red flags that just couldn’t be ignored,” Tursunov told the publication.
“Our trial period was over at the US Open but I stayed here and tried to see if there was a way to impress the team. I really wanted it to work.”
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