Emma Raducanu out of Wimbledon and the French Open after wrist surgery
Emma Raducanu is having surgery on both hands and one ankle which will rule her out of Wimbledon while casting doubt on the rest of her 2023 season.
The news extends Raducanu’s nightmarish sequence of ailments since her astonishing US Open victory in 2021. She has never been able to put a sequence of matches together without interruption, which is why she has already dropped outside the world’s top 100, and will probably slide towards the 300 mark if she doesn’t play again this year.
Raducanu posted a photograph from her hospital bed on Instagram. The image showed a large bandage around her right forearm after the first of these three procedures. “It is safe to say the last 10 months have been difficult as I dealt with a recurring injury on a bone of both hands,” she wrote in an accompanying photograph of a handwritten message.
“I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it for most of this year and end of last year by reducing practice load dramatically, missing weeks of training as well as cutting last season short to try [to] heal it. Unfortunately it’s not enough.”
Raducanu’s representatives suggested that these three procedures – which will continue with the ankle, followed by the left hand – are all straightforward, adding that they expected her to be back training on the court by late summer. But a rushed comeback is in no-one’s interest, and the expectation is that she will miss the US Open – the year’s final major, which starts on Aug 28.
In all probability, Raducanu will look to return in the autumn – perhaps even in the Chinese tournaments that have been reintroduced to the WTA calendar this year. “It pains me that I will miss the summer events,” she said in her Instagram post. “I tried to downplay the issues so I thank all my fans who continued to support me when you did not know the facts. Looking forward to seeing you all back out there.”
While three operations may sound extreme, it makes sense to address Raducanu’s sources of pain rather than asking her to keep gritting her teeth and competing while half-fit. In Madrid last week, she gave a terse and awkward interview that suggested a woman at the end of her tether.
While Raducanu had previously spoken about her wrists in a way that implied tendinitis, it now seems that she is suffering from carpal bosses. These are bony growths on the back of the wrist, which would not be a problem for an ordinary citizen, but which can cause inflammation when combined with repetitive actions such as swinging rackets or golf clubs.
Surgery for this condition is reasonably simple, and simply involves shaving down or cutting out the offending bump. While any operation is best avoided, this sounds like a more positive diagnosis than out-and-out tendinitis, which can be extremely difficult to treat.
Wrist problems in general tend to be awkward, however. The wrist is arguably the most pivotal joint in the tennis player’s body – perhaps even more so than the shoulder or elbow – because it must be loaded and released on virtually every shot. Laura Robson and Juan Martin del Potro are two outstanding talents who underwent numerous wrist surgeries without ever managing to resolve the issue.
When Raducanu returns, she will be able to use the WTA’s protected-ranking scheme to enter 12 tournaments over a three-year period. She also has enough international renown – as well as 2.5m Instagram followers – to receive regular wild-card invitations from tournament directors.
In the meantime, British tennis will have to do without its biggest name of the moment. As will her eight corporate sponsors, who will – like the rest of us – be hoping that Raducanu rediscovers her verve during a long summer break.
