Emma Raducanu: British No 1 could end her season after US Open withdrawal with stress fracture

Emma Raducanu could benefit from ending her season early to focus on recovery and secure a protected ranking before making her return in 2027, according to former British No 1 Annabel Croft.

The 23-year-old suffered a stress fracture to her right lower leg during the grass-court season and made a late decision to pull out of Wimbledon.

And following consultation with her medical team, Raducanu on Monday concluded she will be unable to play at the US Open later this month – live on Sky Sports.

What is a Protected Ranking?

It is a provision in tennis that enables players who have been absent from the sport for an extended period to qualify more easily for tournaments upon their return.

The ATP and WTA Tours have different rules when it comes to protected rankings.

For ATP Tour or other men’s tournaments, an eligible player could use a protected ranking calculated over the three months after they suffered an injury.

WTA Tour players see their protected rankings fixed as the same as it was at the time when the injury was first suffered.

A WTA player can use this protected ranking for eight tournaments in a year, or 12 if they miss more than a year.

Raducanu has only recently taken her first tentative steps back on court while wearing a protective boot, and the latest setback is another blow for the Brit after a frustrating 12 months plagued by persistent physical issues.

Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, former player-turned-TV analyst Croft admitted “she’s been unbelievably unlucky with injury problems.”

“There are so many injuries out there but it seems like she never gets a clear run where she’s able to really go for it with her tennis and her body and her mind and everything injury free and just keep the momentum going.”

After a foot injury severely hampered her pre-season training, Raducanu then spent two-and-a-half months off court with a post-viral illness after initially falling unwell in early February.

She finally returned for the end of the clay-court season having rehired Andrew Richardson, the coach who guided her to the US Open title, but the pair’s time on court together has been limited.

Raducanu enjoyed one of the best weeks of her career by reaching her biggest final since New York at Queen’s Club in June but it was that effort that triggered her latest setback.

She was not among the players named in Great Britain’s team for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in late September.

“I’ve seen lots of pictures of her posting with the boot on her leg and just trying to serve, to keep her racket going and showing everybody that she’s doing everything she can. But clearly, it’s not healed up,” said Croft, who retired from the professional tour at the age of 21.

A protected ranking for Raducanu?

There will now be question marks over whether Raducanu, who will slide from her current ranking of 49, will compete again in 2026 with the temptation of a protected ranking.

Should she miss at least six months of competition due to injury, she can use a special ranking for a select number of events upon her return. This would be her top-50 ranking from during the grass season – the last time she competed and received prize money for a tournament.

Raducanu is at the risk of dropping down the rankings with a lot of points to defend following last year’s north American hard-court swing in Washington, Canada, Cincinnati, and the US Open.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if she made that decision [close down her season],” said Croft, a former world No 24. “That wouldn’t be such a bad decision to take because you can fully heal, rest up, get as much treatment as possible and then come out fully fit, raring to go at the start of next year.

“Maybe if there’s a worry about the ranking drop with so many points to defend and potentially that ranking could plummet, although she might benefit from the protected ranking.

“All of these factors have to be considered, don’t they? But at the end of the day, your health is your wealth, as they say, and that is the most important factor and she just needs to get herself fit.

“It’s an unusual injury. I mean, I’ve had calf muscle injuries, which were not nice at all. And the minute you push off, you tweak it and it feels tight but the one thing that I’ve always thought about Raducanu, particularly when we saw her at Queen’s Club on the grass where she played such beautiful tennis, is that she’s very light on her feet. Movement has always been one of her strengths.

“She’s such a great athlete. She moves around the ball. She’s light on her feet and gets into great positions where she never looks off balance. But movement will be part of a major strength of what she brings out onto the court. That needs to be absolutely 100 per cent.”

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