Emma Raducanu’s participation at Wimbledon has been thrown into doubt after the British No 1 was reportedly spotted at the All England Club wearing an orthopaedic boot.
Clay reported that the British No 1 left Aorangi Park, the Wimbledon practice complex, on Wednesday evening wearing a boot on her right leg, while she did not train there when she had been scheduled to at midday on Thursday.
Thomas Houchin, one of her representatives, told Clay: “Emma is absolutely fine. She will play tomorrow”, but her use of the boot just five days before her home grand slam begins has sparked concern.
She was pictured practicing at the All England Club on Monday but did not book a session there or at Aorangi Park on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Raducanu has not played since an excellent run to the final at Queen’s, a WTA 500 warm-up tournament in west London, where she lost to former Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic less than tow weeks ago.
After playing five matches in quick succession, including her quarter- and semi-final on the same day, the 23-year-old opted not to play another tournament in Nottingham the following week, before declining a wildcard into this week’s event in Eastbourne. She said after Queen’s that she had been “dealing with a few niggles over the past few weeks”.
She slipped on the grass in her Queen’s quarter-final and took a medical timeout but did not appear to be hampered by any physical issues during the remainder of her tournament.
Her career has continually been frustrated by injury problems and missing Wimbledon – where she has twice reached the fourth round, her best result at a major since winning the US Open in 2021 – would mark yet another setback after a promising start to her grass-court season, on what is an excellent surface for the Briton.
A post-viral illness she struggled to shake off kept her off court for two months after Indian Wells in March, meaning she missed nearly the entire clay season.
Wimbledon begins on Monday. Raducanu reached the third round at SW19 last year and will be seeded ahead of the draw, which takes place this Friday.
