Emma Raducanu’s injury woes strike again as she pulls out of Romania event, major doubts over Mexico visit

WTA Tour
Emma Raducanu

Emma Raducanu won’t feature at next week’s Transylvania Open after picking up another injury and the latest setback has put a major question mark over her participation in the Guadalajara Open.

The British No 1 accepted a wildcard entry for next week’s WTA 250 event in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, but organisers have confirmed that she won’t play due to a wrist injury.

“Sadly, Emma Raducanu is forced to withdraw from Transylvania Open due to a wrist injury. Get well fast, Emma! We’re looking forward to see you soon,” the Transylvania Open tweeted.

Raducanu reached the quarter-final in Cluj-Napoca last year so she will automatically lose 60 ranking points.

The WTA 1000 Guadalajara Open, which starts on October 17, is the final tournament on the 19-year-old’s 2022 calendar but it remains to be seen if she will be fit enough to compete at the Mexican event.

Just over a week after reaching the semi-final of the Korea Open where she was forced to retire due to a glute issue while trailing Jelena Ostapenko 4-6, 6-3, 3-0, Raducanu suffered a first-round defeat at the hands of Daria Kasatkina at the Ostrava Open on Monday.

It has been injury-ravaged season for the 2021 US Open champion as she started the year under a cloud after contracting Covid-19 during the backend of last season. Then at the Australian Open she struggled with blisters while she also had leg, back and glute problems at various stages this campaign and she has retired in five matches this year.

Outside of her run in Seoul, the former world No 10 has struggled for form this year as she has suffered a string of early defeats – including a first-round loss during her US Open title defence – that saw her slump to outside the top 80 in the WTA Rankings.

After her US Open exit she admitted that she wants to get as many matches under her belt ahead of the new season.

“I don’t have too many points to defend for the remainder of the season so I am trying to add more matches, there haven’t been many of them lately,” she said.

“This will hopefully help me to lay a good physical foundation for next year.”

Her only other highlights of a disappointing season came at the Cincinnati Masters in August when she beat former world No 1s Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka in straight sets before losing in the quarter-final.

The teenager has climbed back up at No 67 in the rankings, but her withdrawal from next week’s Transylvania Open will see her slip down the rankings again as she won’t defend her 60 points.

Raducanu is expected to start her 2023 season at the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi in December where she take on Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Ons Jabuer in the exhibition event.

Emma Raducanu

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