Britain’s Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from Wimbledon on the eve of her home Grand Slam tournament with a stress fracture in her lower right leg, Yankee Scores reports.
11th-Hour Withdrawal
Raducanu, 23, revealed the decision shortly after 22:00BST on Sunday, about seven hours after telling reporters she planned to play.
The 30th seed Raducanu was due to begin her campaign against Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic on Court One on Monday.
“I’ve done everything possible to try to get to the start line but after a final scan tonight the niggle I’ve been managing has developed into a stress fracture,” Raducanu said.
“I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through.”
Doubts over the fitness of the British number one have grown over the last week.
BBC Sport reported that Raducanu was seen in a protective boot outside on Wednesday, then was unable to train on Thursday and Friday due to what is thought to be a shin issue.
The US Open champion returned to the court Saturday to test her fitness and, wearing strapping around her lower right leg, started with a gentle hour-long session with her team.
But she ended another practice session early – with a set against Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya with 10 minutes to go.
Raducanu was a little less hesitant against hitting partner Alexis Canter – particularly when she used her right leg to push off on the forehand side – but it was not such a rigorous test of her movement as she got against Kalinskaya.
With the evidence of the last few days it felt that Raducanu was trying to put a brave face on her fading hopes of playing.
Later, when she said she was not fit enough to play, Raducanu added: “Playing at Wimbledon, in front of a home crowd, means everything to me, so this is really difficult to process.”
