Emma Raducanu withdrew from Wimbledon after confirmation of a stress fracture in her foot
Emma Raducanu withdrew from Wimbledon on Sunday, 28 June 2026, less than 24 hours before her scheduled first-round appearance, after a final medical examination showed that the pain in her right foot had developed into a stress fracture. The British tennis player, the 30th seed in the women's singles draw, was due to play Antonia Ružić on Monday, 29 June, on Court No. 1 at the All England Club. According to reports by The Guardian and the Press Association, Raducanu had publicly said earlier that same day that she would do everything she could to get on court, but after additional imaging she accepted the medical recommendation not to compete. The decision resonated especially strongly because Wimbledon is the tournament with the greatest emotional significance for her, but the medical risk in the final stage of preparation had become too great.
In an Instagram post, Raducanu stated that she had done everything she could to make it to the start of the tournament, but that the final examination showed a more serious injury than the one she had previously described as discomfort. According to her statement, doctors advised her to stop playing through the pain and not to continue putting strain on the injured foot. This development overturned the narrative ahead of the start of the London Grand Slam: just a few hours earlier, the main topic had been whether Raducanu could withstand an awkward first match, and then it became clear that there would be no appearance from her. For the organizers, television broadcasts and the crowd on Court No. 1, this also means a change to one of the central schedules of the first day of the tournament.
From optimism to a medical ban on playing
According to The Guardian, Raducanu had been carrying the problem with her right foot since the grass-court part of the season in London, especially after a demanding run at Queen's Club, where she reached the final. During the final days of preparation at the All England Club, the situation gradually worsened: she missed part of training, was seen with a medical boot and heavy bandages around her right ankle and lower leg, and she cut short Saturday's practice after it became clear that she was struggling to push off from the injured leg. The Guardian reported that, in a practice set against Anna Kalinskaya, she stopped play while trailing 0-4 and 0-15, which further intensified doubts about her fitness. Although she tried to send an optimistic message on Sunday, an additional examination later that same day changed the decision.
In tennis, stress fractures of the foot and lower leg are often linked to repeated loading, sudden changes in intensity and a large number of explosive movements. Grass can appear less abrasive than hard courts, but it requires quick stops, low push-offs and constant adjustment of balance, especially for players who try to attack the ball early. In the previous days, Raducanu had tried to manage the pain, but confirmation of a stress fracture is significantly different from ordinary sporting discomfort. Playing a three-set match, in front of packed stands and under the competitive pressure of a Grand Slam, could have prolonged her recovery and raised questions about the rest of her season.
According to the Press Association, Raducanu spoke at the All England Club on Sunday as a player who was still preparing for her first appearance, not as someone who had already decided to withdraw. That timeline makes the withdrawal even more dramatic: the decision did not come as the result of a multi-day official announcement, but after the final finding in the evening hours. In professional sport this is not unusual, because the line between controlled pain and an injury that requires stopping is often drawn only after imaging diagnostics. In this case, according to the available information, it was precisely the imaging finding that removed the doubt Raducanu had tried to keep open until the very last moment.
Wimbledon is left without one of the most-watched players of the first day
Wimbledon 2026 begins on 29 June and runs until 12 July, and according to the tournament's official draw Raducanu had been placed as the No. 30 seed in the lower part of a section that could have led towards a later meeting with the highest seeds. Her match against Ružić was supposed to be one of the standout opening contests, not only because of Raducanu's status in British sport, but also because Ružić had already shown in 2026 that this opponent pairing suited her. According to the official WTA record, Ružić defeated Raducanu in Dubai in February 6-1, 5-7, 6-2. That result gave the first round added competitive weight, because it was not a formally easy opening for the seed.
Raducanu has already reached the fourth round at Wimbledon twice, in 2021 and 2024, according to the tournament's official profile. In the 2026 season, she was supposed to arrive in London with a different status than in a series of previous appearances: she was seeded again, had a good grass-court run and a Queen's Club final behind her, while her WTA profile records that her career-high ranking is No. 10. Such a position gave her appearance additional weight, because she was expected not merely to appear, but also to have a realistic chance of getting through at least the opening rounds. The withdrawal therefore changes not only one match, but also the broader picture of the draw in the section where she was located.
For the crowd at the All England Club, Raducanu's absence also has a symbolic dimension. In 2021, she first attracted major global attention at Wimbledon by reaching the fourth round as a teenager, and a few months later she won the US Open as a qualifier, which remains one of the most unusual Grand Slam achievements of the modern era. Since then, her career has been marked by a constant relationship between exceptional talent, huge expectations and physical interruptions. Every return to the London grass therefore carries more than ordinary significance in terms of results, and every withdrawal opens a new question about how much continuity her body can withstand at the highest level.
Ružić enters a different tournament scenario
Antonia Ružić, a 23-year-old tennis player from Croatia, enters Wimbledon, according to her ITF profile, as a player who in June 2026 was around 60th place on the WTA rankings, while WTA statistics record that her career-high ranking is 51st. For her, the match against Raducanu was an opportunity for a highly visible appearance on one of the biggest tennis stadiums outside Centre Court. After the seed's withdrawal, the opponent and the dynamics of preparation change, but not the basic competitive goal: to try to take advantage of a more open part of the draw and confirm the progress she has made over the past two seasons. For players breaking through towards a higher ranking, such changes can be both an opportunity and a challenge because they require rapid adaptation to an opponent with a different profile.
Ružić had already shown in Dubai that she can play aggressively against Raducanu, and the official WTA record of that match confirms that she won after three sets. Still, Wimbledon is a different test: grass rewards shorter rallies, a precise first shot after the serve and readiness for low balls, while the pressure of Court No. 1 is significantly greater than that of an ordinary first round. Raducanu's withdrawal removes the loudest narrative of the match, but Ružić remains in focus because of the possibility that she could continue her rise at Grand Slam level. In tennis, such situations often turn into a psychological test, because a player who has spent days preparing one tactical plan must quickly switch to another.
For the tournament organizers, the late withdrawal of a seed also triggers the administrative process of replacing her in the draw. Wimbledon and Grand Slam rules provide procedures for such cases, including the entry of a replacement player if a seed withdraws before her first appearance. The sporting effect of such a replacement depends on the timing of the decision, the profile of the new player and the court schedule, but for the rest of the draw the most important thing is to avoid further disruption to the programme. Since the decision happened on the eve of the start of the tournament, the change will have the greatest impact on Ružić's immediate preparation and on the schedule for spectators who were expecting to see one of the best-known players in the women's part of the tournament.
The injury comes after her best grass-court weeks in some time
Immediately before Wimbledon, Raducanu had one of her most positive competitive runs since winning the US Open in 2021. According to The Guardian, at Queen's Club she reached the final after playing and winning two matches in one day, including a victory over Iva Jović in the semifinal. That result was important because in recent years Raducanu had often entered tournaments with limited preparation, without match continuity or after health breaks. Her return on grass suggested that she was again finding rhythm, ball-striking and confidence, and her seeded status at Wimbledon was supposed to confirm that progress.
That is precisely why the injury has a greater sporting impact than an ordinary withdrawal. Raducanu was not arriving in London after a series of defeats, but after a period that could have looked like the beginning of a more stable cycle. According to the WTA, her ranking is still below the peak she reached in 2022, but it is high enough to secure her a place among the seeds at the biggest tournaments. In women's tennis, where differences in the early rounds are often very small, seeded status can mean avoiding the strongest names in the early phase and creating room to reach the second week. The withdrawal due to a stress fracture therefore interrupts a moment that, in terms of results, had a clear upward trajectory.
At the same time, her injury history makes this episode part of a longer story. Raducanu was out for much of the 2023 season after wrist and ankle operations, and in the following seasons problems with her back, fatigue and schedule interruptions were reported several times. Not every one of those injuries is connected, nor would it be medically justified to draw a single conclusion from them, but the cumulative effect on her career is obvious: it is difficult to build form if training and competition cycles are constantly interrupted. The stress fracture in her right foot now once again shifts the focus from results to recovery, prevention and load management.
What the withdrawal means for the season and ranking
The immediate consequence is a missed opportunity at the tournament that carries the most points and the greatest visibility in the grass-court part of the season. Wimbledon, according to official prize-money data reported by the ATP, in 2026 had a prize of £80,000 for appearing in the first round of the singles competition, while the total amounts increase by round all the way to the title. The financial element is not the most important part of the story for a player of Raducanu's profile, but it shows the level of the tournament and the weight of the decisions made immediately before the start. Far more important will be the medical plan: stress fractures are usually not resolved by a short rest of a few days, but require a controlled reduction in load and a gradual return.
For Raducanu, the key questions will be how serious the injury is, how long the period of rest will be and whether she will be able to continue the season on the North American hard courts. Since her team has so far not provided a detailed public recovery plan, it is not possible to reliably announce a precise return. It is reasonable to assume that the priority will be complete healing of the foot, because a premature return after a stress fracture can lead to reinjury or compensatory problems in other parts of the body. For a player whose tennis is based on quick movement into the court, aggressive movement and taking the ball early, a stable foot is not only a health requirement, but the foundation of her entire model of play.
The broader context for the women's tournament also changes. The absence of a seed opens space in the part of the draw where she could have been an important obstacle for other players, while at the same time reducing the number of major stories on the first day. Wimbledon regularly builds its schedule around a combination of current champions, former Grand Slam winners, home representatives and young rising players. In that combination, Raducanu had almost all the elements: a Grand Slam title, local identity, strong media interest and a comeback sporting story. Her withdrawal is therefore not only news of an injury, but also a change in the dramaturgy of the start of the tournament.
A painful decision, but a rational choice
Raducanu described the decision as especially difficult because of the meaning of Wimbledon and the support she receives there, but at the same time she acknowledged that continuing to play would not have been responsible after a finding indicating a stress fracture. That tone is important because it shows that this is no longer about assessing tolerance for pain, but about a boundary beyond which competitive ambition can endanger a long-term career. Professional tennis often rewards players who can play through discomfort, but a stress fracture is the type of injury where an attempt at a heroic appearance can have a very concrete cost. In that sense, the withdrawal is disappointing from a sporting perspective, but medically understandable.
For Ružić and the rest of the draw, the tournament continues according to an adjusted schedule, while Raducanu will remember Wimbledon 2026 as a missed opportunity at a moment when it looked as though she was returning to a results-relevant rhythm. Her next step will not be tactical preparation for the second round, but rehabilitation and an assessment of when the foot can again withstand full tennis speed. In a season in which she showed signs of recovering form, the most important question now is no longer how far she can go in London, but whether she can return without rushing and without a new interruption. Wimbledon ended for her before the first point, but the way she recovers could determine a much larger part of the rest of 2026.
Sources:
- The Guardian – report on Emma Raducanu's withdrawal from Wimbledon after confirmation of a stress fracture and her public statement (link)
- The Guardian – report on the interrupted practice session, the right-foot injury and doubts ahead of the start of Wimbledon (link)
- Yahoo Sports / Press Association – confirmation of the withdrawal, the timeline of the decision and the player's statement after the final examination (link)
- Wimbledon – official 2026 women's singles draw and confirmation of Emma Raducanu's position as the No. 30 seed (link)
- Wimbledon – official profile of Emma Raducanu with information on age, ranking and best results at the tournament (link)
- WTA – official profile and statistics of Emma Raducanu, including ranking and career-high ranking (link)
- WTA – official result of the match between Antonia Ružić and Emma Raducanu in Dubai 2026 (link)
- ITF – official profile of Antonia Ružić with information on age, country and ranking (link)
- ATP Tour – overview of Wimbledon 2026 prize money by round in the singles competition (link)