Emma Raducanu finds herself in a frustrating position heading into the North American hard-court season. The 2021 US Open champion has already withdrawn from both the Canadian Open in Montreal (August 2-13) and the Cincinnati Open (August 13-23), yet somehow moved up one spot to world No. 37 in the latest WTA Rankings after Jacqueline Cristian slipped from 36th to 41st.
The reason for her absence is serious. What Raducanu described as a manageable "niggle" during her preparations for Wimbledon ultimately turned out to be a grade-four stress fracture in her shin. The injury forced her to pull out of the grass-court major on the eve of the tournament, and she was subsequently spotted on crutches in the days that followed. Her last competitive match came on June 14, when she lost to Donna Vekic in the final at the Queen's Club Championships.
Raducanu posted a heartfelt statement when confirming her Wimbledon withdrawal, noting that playing in front of a home crowd means everything to her and that processing the setback was genuinely difficult.
This is unfortunately familiar territory for the 23-year-old Brit. She missed most of the 2023 season following surgeries on both wrists and an ankle, ended her 2025 campaign early due to physical troubles in China, and then saw her 2026 preparations disrupted by a foot bone injury. Staying healthy for sustained stretches has been the central challenge of her career.
Despite the current setbacks, Raducanu remains on the entry list for the US Open, scheduled to begin August 20. Her ranking peak of No. 10 in July 2022 feels distant, but a return to form remains entirely plausible if she can recover fully. TennisDraw users will want to monitor her entry status closely before locking in any US Open bracket predictions.
