Emma Raducanu picked up a small but welcome ranking bump this week, moving one place to No. 37 in the WTA Rankings. The trouble is, that number may already have peaked for a while. The British No. 1 has not competed since reaching the final of the WTA 500 event at Queen's Club in June, where the demands of three matches in two days left her with a stress fracture in her foot.
Since then, Raducanu has withdrawn from both the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati WTA 1000 event, two tournaments that carry significant ranking points. There is also growing concern that she could miss the US Open entirely. Should that happen, her ranking would almost certainly drop outside the top 50, given the points she would fail to defend from last year's hard-court swing.
With only 11 match wins recorded in 2026 so far, the window for Raducanu to stabilise her ranking is narrowing quickly. Former British No. 1 Greg Rusedski weighed in on the situation through his podcast, stressing that consistent training habits are essential even during rest periods. He invoked Roger Federer as an example of a player who kept hitting balls throughout family holidays at the height of his powers, noting that stop-start preparation leaves the body unprepared for the physical demands of back-to-back competitive matches.
Rusedski was careful to acknowledge he does not have full visibility into Raducanu's training setup, but he made clear that load management and continuity of both coaching staff and gym work are critical factors in keeping elite players on the court.
TennisDraw users will be watching Raducanu's projected draw path at the US Open closely, where her participation currently remains very much in doubt.
