Emma Raducanu faces a fresh injury nightmare after revealing a ‘back niggle’ with the Australian Open getting underway in less than two weeks.
The British tennis star has been forced to withdraw from the ASB Classic in Auckland over the issue, the first event of the 2025 season, where she had been due to face Robin Montgomery in her opening match.
Raducanu was seeded sixth for the ASB Classic, a traditional warm-up for the Australian Open – the first Grand Slam tournament of the year – which gets started on January 12.
Raducanu, 22, was set to play in Auckland in what would’ve been her first event since linking up with renowned fitness trainer Yutaka Nakamura.
But the British star, currently ranked world No.56, will now play no part and will instead focus on her recovery ahead of the major action getting underway at Melbourne Park
‘Tried my best to be ready,’ Raducanu told the WTA website. ‘I love Auckland and the fans here but unfortunately picked up a back niggle and won’t be ready in time.’
Raducanu was hoping for an injury-free 2025 after huge problems across her last three years on the WTA Tour, which ultimately led to triple surgery.
Nakamura, her new strength and conditioning specialist, recent took a deep dive into why Raducanu continues to be impacted by injury issues.
It was decided that Raducanu’s body has been often not in shape for competitive matches because of an inadequate recovery process.
‘I think part of it has been load,’ Raducanu, ranked world No.10 in 2022, said about her various injury problems over the years earlier this month.
‘The tournament is happening, I really want to play it, but I’ve not put in enough training.
‘I’ve had two weeks off because of a different injury and I’m like, ‘OK, that injury has settled’. But then I go play a match and literally in the first match something starts hurting. I got into that vicious cycle and it’s pretty dangerous to be in.’
Raducanu remarkably won the US Open title in 2021 as a qualifier, which saw her earn a number of lucrative sponsorship deals, but she has not landed a second trophy on the WTA Tour anywhere else since.