Raducanu in danger of missing Australian Open

The 2021 US Open champion was in tears as she approached the net to prematurely shake the hand of her second-round opponent, Viktoria Kuzmova, at the ASB Classic. She had attempted to play on after having her left ankle heavily strapped by the tournament physio at the start of the third set, but could last only one more point.

The British player suffered the injury on an indoor hard court after play had been moved because of persistent rain outside. At 5-5 in the second set, Raducanu ran to her right to hit a forehand from several metres behind the baseline but slipped on the court as she tried to change direction back to her left. She struggled to move after this and eventually decided that she was in no condition to see out the match.

Because this happened after 10pm in Auckland, a spokesman for Raducanu indicated that it would be today (Friday) before she begins to have an idea of the full extent of what appears to be an ankle sprain. The recovery time will depend on the severity of the damage but it is difficult to see how she can be fully fit for the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne in 10 days’ time.

“It’s difficult to take,” Raducanu told the New Zealand media organisation Stuff. “I’ve put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I’ve been feeling good and optimistic. So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle, is pretty disappointing – in the first week as well. I thought I was playing some pretty decent tennis.

“The courts are incredibly slick, very slippery, so to be honest it’s not a surprise that this happened to someone. It’s out of my control, and after a very long day of waiting around. But we’ll assess over the next few days and see what the next steps are.”

This is clearly a bitter blow for Raducanu who, after a series of issues last year, had spent most of the off-season working on her fitness with Andy Murray’s former physical trainer Jez Green. There had been questions surrounding the 20-year-old’s strength and conditioning for the rigours of the WTA Tour given that she recorded four mid-match retirements in 2022, but a roll of her ankle at an untimely moment cannot be seen as anything other than desperately unlucky.

At present the world No.78, Raducanu faces the prospect of falling further down the rankings if she cannot compete at the Australian Open. The failure to defend the 70 points she earned for reaching the second round last year could mean she drops to about No 85, depending on other results.

The early stages of this match had been extremely encouraging. Raducanu took less than half an hour to claim the opening set without losing a game against Kuzmova, the world No 134 from Slovakia. She landed 81 per cent of her first serves and hit eight winners to only three unforced errors.

The turning point came in the second set when Raducanu dropped her serve to go 3-2 down. This gave Kuzmova hope of a comeback and she served out the set at the second time of asking at 6-5 after tightening up on her first opportunity at 5-4. In the final few minutes of that set, Raducanu was clearly hampered in her movement after her fall. She requested a visit from the tournament physio before the deciding set and took a long medical time-out. When she winced in pain after hitting her first serve of the third set and made no effort to chase down a Kuzmova groundstroke to her left, it was clear that she could not continue.

Visibly upset, Raducanu was accompanied by her new coach, Sebastian Sachs, and personal physio, Will Herbert, as she limped off the court. Both will have a key role to play in managing her preparations for the Australian Open if she is cleared for an attempt at getting ready for it.

It seems that Raducanu may live to regret her decision to play an individual WTA Tour event in Auckland rather than the United Cup team competition in Sydney. Her match against Kuzmova was delayed by 24 hours because of the inclement weather and eventually played on a dark indoor court in front of no more than a dozen people. This was hardly ideal preparation for Melbourne, where temperatures can often reach the mid-30s under the blazing sun in the middle of the day.

As a grand-slam champion, Raducanu is likely to have commanded an appearance fee of up to pounds 100,000 for committing to Auckland. But she may ponder whether the experience would have been more enjoyable alongside her compatriots in a mixed-team environment at the United Cup, where Great Britain reached the effective quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, there are also doubts surrounding the participation of Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open. The 2019 and 2021 champion, who has battled mental health issues in recent years, has not entered any warm-up events and posted a photograph on social media from a Los Angeles pilates studio on Wednesday. The 25-year-old remains on the Melbourne entry list but organisers have received no details on her potential arrival. She has not played since September.

Novak Djokovic recovered from a slow start to reach the quarter-finals of the Adelaide International. The nine-times Australian Open champion was 5-2 down in the first set against France’s Quentin Halys, the world No 64, before fighting back for a 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5) win.

-The Times

Originally published as