Emma Raducanu cuts practice match short as Wimbledon involvement thrown into doubt

Emma Raducanu now can officially be classed as a doubt for Wimbledon. She played only four games in a practice match against Anna Kalinskaya before cutting proceedings short by 10 minutes, throwing her Wimbledon participation up in the air.

She was already an injury concern for the tournament after being spotted leaving Aorangi Park, Wimbledon's official practice area, with an orthopaedic boot on her right leg.

This caught the attention of many with her involvement in her home Grand Slam under severe threat. After reaching the final at Queen's Raducanu would pull out of the events on home soil in Nottingham and Eastbourne, deciding not to complete a full grass swing as she focused on Wimbledon.

This is very likely due to injury sustained as she looks to get some rhythm in her season. A tumultuous 2026 has seen her reach a brace of WTA finals for the first time since that 2021 US Open title. While she could not add to that title success, illness and injury have prevented her from competing more.

Following that abandoned practice match with the Roland Garros quarter-finalist, Raducanu was supposed to speak to the media. This is no longer the case.

Her media duties will wait until tomorrow with her set to wait until the final moment to make a decision. This is avoiding a repeat of the Rome Open incident when following her speaking to the media ahead of the event, she subsequently pulled out in a bizarre turn of events.

It would be a bitter blow not just to Raducanu, but to the whole of Wimbledon and the British fans if she was not able to partake. This was the location of her breakthrough run back in 2021 when she reached the fourth round before breathing difficulties saw her forced to abandon her run.

She reached the fourth round again as a wildcard in 2024, missing a great opportunity to make more progress following a defeat to qualifier Lulu Sun. She was very impressive in 2025 despite failing to make it the third round. She pushed the World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka very hard before the four-time Grand Slam moved up the gears and eventually managed to survive a scare.

The British No.1 is set to take on Antonia Ruzic in the first match on No.1 Court on the opening Monday of action. Whether this will occur or not is something set to be decided over the coming hours.