Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from Wimbledon due to injury the night before her opening match.

The British No 1 had been scheduled to face Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic in Monday’s first match on Court 1, but confirmed on Sunday night that she would not compete due to a stress fracture.

Raducanu has been managing a right lower leg injury since her run to the Queen’s final earlier in June, but fears for her participation at the All England Club were raised on Saturday when she cut short a training session during which she was seen with strapping on her lower leg.

She subsequently confirmed she was contending with an injury. Earlier on Sunday, after coming through a practice session with hitting partner Alexis Canter, she was planning and hoping to be able to compete in the tournament.

But a final scan revealing the injury had developed into a stress fracture forced her to withdraw the night before her opening match.

Image:
Raducanu was planning to play through the injury but has been advised not to

Raducanu wrote in a social media post on Sunday evening: “I can’t believe I’m saying this but sadly I’ve had to withdraw from this year’s Wimbledon.

“I’ve done everything possible to try to get to the start line tomorrow but after a final scan tonight, the niggle I’ve been managing has developed into a stress fracture and I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through.”

She added: “Playing at Wimbledon, in front of a home crowd, means everything to me, so this is really difficult to process.”

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Raducanu has not won a tour-level tournament before or after her surprising run to the US Open title as a qualifier at the age of 18. But she impressed at Queen’s Club with some of her best tennis since that triumph, before losing to Donna Vekic in the final.

She said earlier Sunday that she first felt her injury during the clay-court season before it was aggravated at the grass-court warm-up event.

“Queen’s, during that week, was a lot of load for me,” she said. “Five matches after having not competed for a while. But I’m just managing it with my team as best as I possibly can, exhausting all options and doing what we can.”