Emma Raducanu appears to be facing a battle to be fit to play at Wimbledon amid concerns over a fresh injury and her mood will not have been improved by what appears to be a tough draw.
Rumours have been swirling in recent days suggesting Raducanu has been struggling with an injury that has required her to wear a protective boot on her foot.
The official word is that Raducanu is nursing a ‘nagging injury’, but her absence from the practice courts at Wimbledon in the days before her home Grand Slam may be telling.
There was some suggestion that he may be close to pulling out of the tournament before the draw was made, but her name did appear in the Ladies’ singles line-up and if she was hoping for a comfortable start, the No.30 seed was disappointed.
If Raducanu is fit to play, Antonia Ruzic will be her opponent, with the Brit having a losing 2-1 record in her previous matches against the Croatian.
More Tennis News
Emma Raducanu’s team respond after she’s seen leaving Wimbledon in an orthopaedic boot
Emma Raducanu suggests when she will retire from tennis as Wimbledon nears
If she were to get through that match, experienced grass court player Jelena Ostapenko could lie in wait in round two and a clash top top seed Aryna Sabalenka could then be on her agenda in what would be a repeat of last year’s epic contest between the duo at the same stage of the competition.
Raducanu has suggested she was keen to get into a seeded position for Grand Slams, but being seeded at No 30 has not helped her on this occasion as the unseeded duo of Ruzic and Ostapenko are players she would have been keen to avoid.
Ostapenko’s withdrawal from the Eastbourne Open semi-finals on Friday cast a doubt over her Wimbledon preparations, but the official reason for pulling out of her semi-final against Tatjana Maria was sickness, so she will be hopeful of recovering for next week.
The biggest concern ahead of the start of Wimbledon on Monday must focus around Raducanu and if she is forced to withdraw from Wimbledon, it will be the latest hammer blow in the career of a player who has suffered one setback after the next since her US Open win in 2021.
The WTA Tour dared to believe they had a new superstar in the game after Raducanu’s victory in New York, but the fifth anniversary of that triumph is approaching with real question marks over where her career is heading.
A thrilling set of performances at the Queen’s Club earlier this month fired Raducanu into the final and she turned in a battling performances against Donna Vekic in what turned out to be a thrilling contest.
Yet the brutal reality is that Raducanu has appeared in just two WTA Tour finals since winning the US Open and she failed to win either of them.
She played just 21 tennis matches in 2026 and has lost 10 of those, with her ranking certain to slide if she pulls out of Wimbledon and the 130 ranking points she collected in the tournament last year drop off her record.
Tennis is a better place when Raducanu is smiling and winning on court, but the challenges she continues to encounter will spark more debate over her ability to sustain a career at the top of the game with her body continuing to let her down.
READ MORE: Emma Raducanu Wimbledon withdrawal? Rumours swirl over possible announcement