Emma Raducanu has revealed that she has been playing with an injury after she was knocked out of Queen’s Club.
Raducanu, the British no1, was beaten by Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng 6-2 6-4 on the Andy Murray Arena as the former US Open champion bowed out in the quarter-finals.
On Wednesday, Raducanu was defeated in the women’s doubles alongside compatriot and British no2 Katie Boulter, meaning that she had played five matches within five days at the first-ever women’s event at the west London event.
Queen’s was the first tournament that Raducanu had played since her French Open defeat by Iga Swiatek, as Raducanu ramps up her grass-court game in the lead-up to Wimbledon.
She has been given a wildcard into the German Open in Berlin, which begins on Monday, June 16.
However, Raducanu cast doubts over whether she would make the trip to Germany.
"I have been struggling with my back since Strasbourg, and it's just been something that's been on and off," she said.
"I have been managing it pretty well over the last few weeks, but I guess as the week goes on and I have played five matches now, even if two were doubles, I think it just tests it out. I just felt it as the load goes up.
"They took me off court and taped it to give me some extra stability, and some painkillers.
"[The back] has been lingering for the last few weeks and I have had back issues before. It's just a vulnerability of mine. I know I need to take good care of it.”
Raducanu is also entered into the draw at Eastbourne, which will be played the week before Wimbledon starts.
Eastbourne runs from Monday, June 23 to Sunday, June 29, with the main draw at Wimbledon beginning on Monday, June 30.
"I need to think about that and see how it settles and recovers over the next few hours," Raducanu said of her injury.
"I wanted to have exposure to the best and see how I fare up, see the ball that's coming my way so that if it were to happen in a Grand Slam, I would have some sort of rough idea. I'd say that was the reason."
Raducanu is currently ranked world no36, and should she progress far at Berlin and Eastbourne, she could earn herself a seeded place in the Wimbledon draw.
The Brit said that her focus, however, had changed from obtaining a seeding to becoming more competitive against the top players in the women’s game.
When it comes to beating seeded players at tournaments this year, Raducanu has beaten Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round of the Australian Open, before she defeated American pair Emma Navarro and Amanda Anisimova in her run to the quarter-finals in Miami.
She cruised past current world no16 Daria Kasatkina in straight sets in the opening round of Strasbourg before she was beaten by Danielle Collins in three sets.
"I think maybe my goals have slightly shifted from being seeded to actually improving my game, and when I play those top players, making it closer and feeling more competitive rather than just feeling, okay, I maybe get to the third round of a Slam but then lose comfortably to one of the top,” Raducanu said.
"I'd rather have a more competitive match, even if that means losing first round, second round, and I think that, to be honest, is how I feel right now.”
