Emma Raducanu sparks injury fears as she misses Wimbledon practice

Emma Raducanu’s participation at Wimbledon is in question after the British star sat our practice.

The 23-year-old was a no-show for Thursday’s lunchtime session, which follows reports she was seen wearing an orthopaedic boot at the All England Club on Wednesday.

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Raducanu was pictured practicing on Monday, but had not booked a court session on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The British No.1 hasn’t played since her run to the final at Queen’s, where she fell to Donna Vekic in west London.

Injury troubles

She was forced to play five games in quick succession, including the quarter-final and the semi-final on the same day, before falling to her Croatian opponent.

Raducanu then opted against participating at another tournament in Nottingham.

She then passed up a wildcard chance to play at Eastbourne this week having said she had been “dealing with a few niggles over the past few weeks” following Queen’s.

The 2021 US Open winner did suffer a fall in the quarter-final in the capital earlier this month, but was fine to resume following a medical time out.

There are, though, fears that she will miss the third Grand Slam of the year on what is widely regarded to be Raducanu’s favoured surface, at least that’s according to former coach Mark Petchey.

Petchey also criticised those who have guided Raducanu up until this point.

“Everyone knows that things could have been handled differently – but not by her,” Petchey said.

“She was 18 [when she won the US Open]. That’s not on her, but there are a lot of adults in the room that clearly will need to look at themselves.

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“The lucky thing for her is she won it so young, she had this period to figure stuff out.

“And she’s now just 23 and has still got a lot of runway ahead in tennis if she decides to use it.

“Especially on the grass, because there’s no question in my mind this is her best surface.”

If she were to miss Wimbledon, it would mark what’s been a testing year for Raducanu.

Indeed, she was absent for the bulk of the clay swing owing to a post-viral illness she struggled to shake off following Indian Wells back in March.

Wimbledon gets underway on Monday, while Raducanu has been seeded for the draw, which takes place on Friday.