Emma Raducanu schedule: Return date unclear as she faces rankings drop
Emma Raducanu appears to be set for a longer-than-expected spell on the sidelines as there was no sign of her name when the initial entry list for the Washington Open was announced by organisers.
The British No 1 was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon on the eve of her first-round match at the grass-court Grand Slam as she failed to recover from a stress fracture in her right leg.
“I’ve done everything possible to try to get to the start line tomorrow but after a final scan tonight, the niggle I’ve been managing has developed into a stress fracture and I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through,” she revealed in a late-night statement on Sunday.
Raducanu was spotted on crutches two days later, which suggested the injury was a lot more serious than initially thought, and her absence from the WTA 500 DC player list announcement has added to those fears.
Organisers have revealed that Leylah Fernandez will return to defend her title and she will be joined by Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, Naomi Osaka, Diana Shnaider, Iva Jovic, Jasmine Paolini, Anna Kalinskaya, Madison Keys, Emma Navarro, Alex Eala, Liudmila Samsonova and Venus Williams.
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Raducanu has competed at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in three of the past four years, reaching the quarter-final in 2022, losing against Samsonova, while in 2024 she lost against Paula Badosa at the same stage.
The former world No 10 went one better last year as she reached the semi-final before losing against Kalinskaya.
The WTA 500 event in the United States is the first tournament of the North American hard-court swing as it starts on 27 July and she could still be added to the entry list at a later stage.
There is also a chance that she returns earlier than expected and Raducanu and her team have the option of signing up for Athens Open – which gets underway on 13 July – or the Prague Open (20 July).
There are also a couple of clay-court events on the
WTA Tour after Wimbledon, but there is no doubt that Raducanu won’t take risks on the surface ahead of the US Open.
The first WTA 1000 event of the swing, the Canadian Open, starts on 2 August in Toronto before they head to the United States for the Cincinnati Open (13 August).
WTA Rankings
Having climbed to No 33 in the rankings before Wimbledon, Raducanu has since slipped five places to No 30 in the Live Rankings following her withdrawal and she could slip a few more places as several players behind her are still in action at SW19.
And she could face another big drop if she doesn’t play at Washington, as she has 195 points to defend from her run to the semi-final last year, putting her at risk of slipping out of the top 50.
