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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Oli Gent

Emma Raducanu issues fitness update ahead of Wimbledon

Fighting fit: Emma Raducanu - (AFP via Getty Images)

Emma Raducanu has assured tennis fans that she will play at Wimbledon despite another injury scare.

The British no1 was dumped out of the Eastbourne Open by Maya Joint in the second round, with the seventh seed surrendering a set-advantage to lose 4-6 6-1 7-6(4) at Devonshire Park.

Raducanu had been struggling with a back issue throughout her Queen’s Club campaign, where she reached the quarter-finals before being beaten by Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng, and the last eight of the doubles alongside Katie Boulter, before they were defeated by top seeds Erin Routliffe and Lyudmyla Kichenok.

The 2021 US Open champion was hampered by back spasms at both the Australian and French Opens, and was forced to pull out of the Berlin Open after the same niggle began to bother her once more in west London.

Unfortunately, she had to play through the pain barrier on the Sussex coast, and she looked in considerable discomfort during her defeat by the Australian teeanger Joint.

However, Raducanu has allayed fears that she will miss this year’s Wimbledon, insisting that she would be at her home grand slam.

I will step on the court regardless

Emma Raducanu

Asked if there was a chance that she would skip the grass-court major, Raducanu replied: “No, I think I will step on the court regardless.”

Raducanu, who became the first British woman to win a major since Virginia Wade’s 1977 Wimbledon triumph, has reached the last 16 at the All England on two separate occasions, but has never progressed further.

“I've just been managing [the injury] but hopefully I can recover,” she continued.

“I still have a few days before Wimbledon so I'm looking forward to kind of recovering, and hopefully it settles. I would say it bothers me. I wouldn't say I can't move.

“Like a lot of athletes, we all carry something that we’re managing and playing through, but I'd just say that it's okay. I can play, and I can still put out some pretty decent tennis in the situation.”

“I am going to rest tomorrow, just take it day by day. Get some practice in. I think it could be a blessing in disguise, having some rest right now.

“I think I'm looking forward to heading back and then getting on the grass at Wimbledon."

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