Emma Raducanu suffers huge injury scare as Queen’s Club run is ended
Emma Raducanu’s encouraging run at the Queen’s Club came to an end after a defeat against Zheng Qinwen, with the fall-out from this latest loss liable to throw up long-term concerns.
Raducanu’s two wins in her first grass court tournament of 2025 will ensure she takes over from Katie Boulter as British No 1 on Monday, but that success may feel hollow if she is forced to miss big tournaments in the next few weeks.
The 22-year-old admitted she had low expectations when she arrived at Queen’s Club, with a back problem that hampered her clay court campaign last month giving her real concern.
Despite that injury, she decided to play in the doubles tournament at Queen’s, with that decision a big gamble that may well have backfired.
After playing every day this week due to her doubles commitments, her back problem flared up again as she lost 6-2, 6-2 to Queen’s Club top seed Zheng.
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Raducanu received treatment for the problem at the start of the second set and appeared to be hampered on her serve at times as Zheng outclassed her.
The Brit was a double break-up in the second set, but she appeared to be complaining about her back problem in constant conversations with her coach Mark Petchey.
World No 5 Zheng had more power and consistency as she overwhelmed Raducanu in the second set, with her ball striking offering more punch than her opponent.
“I played really good today,” said Zheng. “It was really difficult, she’s got more experience than me. I’m proud to be in my first semi-final on grass. I want to apologise for my shoes. I don’t know how to run on grass!
“I still don’t know when I have to change to grass shoes. I think now is the time because I feel much better to run.
“I have to keep my game more focused because I started really slow in the second set. Just happy to get the win.”
This defeat against Zheng was a blow to Raducanu’s hopes of securing a seeding for Wimbledon, with Raducanu currently sitting at No 35 in the live WTA Rankings and she will need to get into the top 32 to be seeded for the third Grand Slam of the year.
Raducanu is due to travel to Berlin to play in another WTA 500 tournament next week, but there have to be some doubts over whether she will be fully fit to compete in that event.
She has also entered the WTA 250 tournament a week later, as she looks to play as much grass court tennis as possible ahead of Wimbledon.
It remains to be seen how serious this back problem is, but there is no doubt that it appears to aggravate her more when she is put under pressure by a higher-ranked opponent.
Raducanu was blown away by Iga Swiatek in the French Open last month, with the ball striking power of the Polish star at a different level to that offered up by the 2021 US Open champion.
Now she needs to fix her back and try and find a way to put more sting on her ground shots to have a realistic crack of mounting a big run at Wimbledon.
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