Emma Raducanu’s dreams to make a big run at Wimbledon 2026 ended very early on from the beginning of the tournament as the former US Open champion withdrew from the Championships with a stress fracture in her right leg.
The 23-year-old British star announced her withdrawal on Sunday evening in an emotional post on Instagram just hours before she was due to begin her campaign against Croatia's Antonia Ruzic on No. 1 Court at the All England Club.
Raducanu said she had done everything to recover in time, but she was ultimately forced to follow medical advice when a final scan confirmed the severity of the injury.
"I’ve tried everything I can to try to get to the start line tomorrow but after a last 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 wrote.
She said that missing Wimbledon was especially painful because playing in front of home fans had always been one of her biggest motivations.
"Playing at Wimbledon, in front of a home crowd, means everything to me, so this is really difficult to process."
The injury is yet another blow to Raducanu’s career that has been hampered by fitness issues since winning the 2021 US Open. At just 18 years old she was the first qualifier in history to win a Grand Slam singles title and not lose a single set.
While Raducanu has not won another WTA title since that historic win, she had been making some encouraging signs in recent weeks. She reached the Queen's Club Championships final earlier this month and played some of her best tennis in years before finishing runner-up to Croatia’s Donna Vekic.
Before her withdrawal, Raducanu said the problem first arose during the clay-court season and worsened during the demanding grass-court schedule.
"Queen's, during that week, was a lot of load for me. Five matches after not having 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," she had said.
Her withdrawal is a severe blow to Wimbledon organizers and British fans who had hoped Raducanu would be part of the home challenge with fellow British stars. So far her presence was anticipated to be a huge attraction with a large number of people around the tournament in the country.
A stress fracture is a small crack in a bone caused by repetitive stress rather than a single traumatic injury. Recovery typically takes several weeks of rest and rehabilitation so Raducanu cannot rush her return to competition.
With this latest injury, she has to face new questions about how she is able to recover, but many tennis experts know that the priority should be a full recovery rather than another injury problem. Raducanu is just 23 and has so much still to develop and achieve if she can come out of the injury problems that have been taking so long to resolve.
But for now, one of Wimbledon 2026’s biggest home attractions is missing and that will leave British fans disappointed as the tournament begins without its most prominent women’s player.
