Emma Raducanu’s injury woes return – Drop from top 100 all but confirmed as she gets support from Chris Evert

WTA Tour
Emma Raducanu in action

Emma Raducanu has suffered another injury setback and her latest misfortune has resulted in her withdrawal from the Madrid Open with the move all but confirming that she will drop out of the top 100 of the WTA Rankings.

The 2021 US Open champion was looking to end a run of three consecutive losses on the WTA Tour, but a hand injury has seen her pull out of the WTA 1000 event just hours before she was due to face Viktoriya Tomova in the first round.

A simple tweet from tournament organisers stated: “🇬🇧@EmmaRaducanu withdraws from the Mutua Madrid Open due to injury in her right hand.

“Get well soon!😘”

Raducanu is currently 85th in the rankings, but she reached the round of 16 in Madrid last year and will thus drop 110 points when the system is updated after the tournament.

The end result is a drop out of the top 100, which will make life difficult in the coming weeks as she faces a battle to go directly into the main draw of Grand Slams with Wimbledon, in particular, a major headache.

Her withdrawal comes on the back of a curious 58-word press conference ahead of the Madrid Open on Tuesday where she refused to speak at length about any subject.

Asked about her physical state, she only replied: “Okay.”

Asked about her wrists, she said: “It’s okay.”

The longest answer she provided when she was questioned about the Indian Wells and Miami events, saying: “Yeah it was a good trip in America, tough match. But yeah, moving on.”

Tennis great and former world No 1 Chris Evert came to her defence on social media.

“In her defense, every one of us has had a day, or a press conference like this… don’t make it such a big deal…🤷♀️😉😉😉,” the 18-time Grand Slam singles winner wrote.

The Italian Open is next on Raducanu’s calendar, but it remains to be seen if she will be fit enough to compete.

The 20-year-old has played only 10 matches so far this campaign, with her round 16 appearances at the ASB Classic at the start of the year and Indian Wells in March her best displays.

It is a far cry from her performance at the 2021 US Open where she won 10 matches in a row – including three in qualifying – to become the first man or woman to win a Grand Slam after coming through qualifying.

READ MORE: Time to stop the social media hate flowing in Emma Raducanu’s direction

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