Emma Raducanu’s Wimbledon withdrawal: Will she still earn prize money? How many ranking points will she drop?
British No 1 Emma Raducanu has lost her battle to fit for Wimbledon as she withdrew from the tournament on the eve of her first-round match, but she will still earn prize money.
The world No 33 was seen wearing a protective boot on Wednesday and was unable to train on Thursday and Friday, raising fears that she could miss the tournament, but there was more positive news on Saturday as she returned to the practice courts.
On Sunday afternoon, she was upbeat about her chances of playing on Monday, vowing to do everything she could to be fit, but then came the hammerblow later in the evening as she confirmed her withdrawal.
Raducanu explained that she had been struggling with a stress fracture in her lower right leg and “I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through”.
The 2021 US Open champion was seeded 30th at the grass-court Grand Slam and is the first player to pull out of The Championships after the women’s main draw was completed on Friday.
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The Brit was due to take on Antonia Ruzic in the first round, but the Croatian will now face a yet-to-be-determined lucky loser.
Will Raducanu Earn Prize Money?
Despite not setting foot on court for the match against Ruzic, Raducanu will receive prize money as she pulled out after the draw was made.
Players who lose in the first round at Wimbledon are guaranteed to earn £80,000 ($107,350), but Raducanu will go home with half of that (£40,000) as she met all the conditions as per the Grand Slam rule book.
According to the Grand Slam Financial Obligations, “Players who withdraw on-site become eligible to receive 50% of the first-round prize money only if they have competed in one tournament in the twenty-one (21) days before the commencement of the main draw for the Grand Slam Tournament.”
Raducanu last played 15 days ago when she lost in the final of the HSBC Championship against Donna Vekic.
The rule book further states that “Each player is limited to two (2) Grand Slam Tournaments in a calendar year where he/she may receive prize money for the on-site withdrawal” and the 23-year-old competed at both the Australian Open and French Open this year.
Ranking Points Dropped
The British No 1 reached the third round of Wimbledon last year before losing against top seed Aryna Sabalenka and earned 130 ranking points for her efforts.
With the WTA using a rolling 52-week, cumulative system to determine the rankings, those points will be removed at the start of this year’s tournament so Raducanu goes from 1,429 points to 1,299, resulting in a two-place drop to No 35.
But she could still slip further down the rankings as several players below her could move up in the coming days with a couple of wins at Wimbledon.
