Emma Raducanu’s hopes of playing at the US Open appear to be hanging by a thread, with the British No 1 yet to make any official announcement over whether she will play at Flushing Meadows next month.
This year’s US Open will mark the fifth anniversary of her iconic US Open win, as she came through qualifying and won ten straight matches without dropping a set to lift the title.
That triumph ensured Raducanu secured a host of lucrative sponsorship deals as she became an instant global sporting superstar, but her story since then has been littered with injury setbacks.
The 23-year-old has won just 11 matches in 2026, as she has been kept off court by injuries and the ongoing effects of a virus that derailed her season and forced her to pull out of a host of tournaments.
She did show some impressive form in reaching the finals of the WTA 500 event in front of her home fans at the Queen’s Club in London last month, but that run proved to be too much for her body as she suffered a stress fracture in her foot that ruled her out of Wimbledon.
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Emma Raducanu set to miss high-profile tournament after the US Open
Raducanu has now pulled out of the Canadian Open next week and the Cincinnati Open that follows next month, but she has yet to confirm whether she will make an appearance at the US Open.
Confirmation that she will not play for Great Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup finals after the US Open does not offer any real clues to her intentions of playing at the US Open, as she has not represented her country with any regularity in recent years.
She was also a notable omission from the list of players who will compete in the US Open mixed doubles event, a year after she formed a high-profile partnership with Carlos Alcaraz.
What may be more worrying is the lack of evidence that Raducanu has even started to make any attempt to return to action, with no footage of her practicing and her most recent Instagram post suggesting she is currently on holiday in Switzerland.
Raducanu would need to get back on court in the next two weeks if she wants to try and build up her levels to be ready to compete at the US Open and she will need to make a decision on her next move before making any plans to fly to New York.
Former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has suggested Raducanu may need to change all aspects of her set-up to ensure she is physically equipped to take on the challenges of competing consistently at the top of the women’s game.
Speaking on his podcast, Rusedski was trying to be positive about Raducanu’s latest injury, but he admitted the stop-start nature of her career is not a recipe for long-term success.
“I think you have to be in the team to really know what the issue is,” began Rusedski.
“It depends on how you’re training, how you’re loading, what’s happening. I don’t have enough information, but all I know is we have a lot of talented players in Britain and we need to find a way to keep them healthy.
“Also, consistency of team helps, consistency of training. You can’t take long periods of time off. Even when you’re on holiday, you still need to hit balls. You still need to go to the gym. You need to keep it going because stop starting.
“I remember when Roger Federer was at the peak of his powers and he was still hitting tennis balls when he went on holiday with his family. That’s what you need to do.
“I’m a recreational player now, but if I stop for a few weeks and then I’ve got a seniors event or something, I’m sore. I’m stiff. I don’t bounce back as quickly. So it’s easier for me if I’m just training consistently.
“You need the same approach as the pros. And you have to get that sort of impact and volume. And for Emma at Queen’s, the problem was she’s played so many back-to-back matches.
“So she wasn’t trained for her body to be able to do that. You can say it’s bad luck, but you have to be prepared sometimes to play two matches in a day and maybe back-to-back two matches.
“I just wish her well. I want to see her healthy. I want to see all our Brits healthy and going in the right direction. But you’ve got to have a look at the sports science behind it as well because something is not right when we have this many of them injured all the time.”
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