Emma Raducanu breaks silence after US Open withdrawal with 1-word post | Tennis | Sport
Emma Raducanu has posted to social media for the first time since withdrawing from the 2026 US Open. A champion in Flushing Meadows five years ago, the Brit has once again had an injury-disrupted campaign and will not travel to the States to compete in the final Slam of the year.
After a first-round win at the Australian Open, Raducanu had her campaign down under ended in the second round. Meanwhile, at the French Open, the Canada-born star was knocked out at the first time of asking, which marked her last Grand Slam action for 2026.
Having missed out on Wimbledon and now the French Open, Raducanu is left to rue another Slam season where her body failed her. The last time she competed in a competitive match of any kind was at Queen’s in the build-up to Wimbledon, where it looked as if she’d turned a corner by reaching the final of the WTA 500 event.
She wasn’t seen again on grass and it looks as if it will be some time before Raducanu returns to a hard court. And following her withdrawal from the US Open, Raducanu updated her fans with a subtle social media post.
It came on Instagram, where the world No.49 posted a photo of the Albert Bridge in London, with the caption: “Albert [love heart emoji].”
Just days before withdrawing from the US Open, Raducanu had posted a photo dump from a training camp in Switzerland.
It was captioned: “Best reset ever,” and featured photos from a mountainous retreat in the European country. It did include a video of her practising serves, although she was wearing a protective boot at the time, which led to theories that she might not be at full fitness just yet.
There hasn’t been an official announcement regarding Raducanu’s absence just yet, but she had released an emotional statement ahead of her Wimbledon withdrawal. Former player Pede Odgers has suggested that Raducanu could look to fully shut down her 2026 season in a bid to properly heal after the injury.
He remarked: “Well, you know, it wouldn’t be a surprise if she made that decision, and probably that wouldn’t be such a bad decision to take, because you can fully heal, rest up, get as much treatment as possible, and then come out fully fit, raring to go at the start of next year,” the former player replied.
“But the business side of tennis, I’m sure there’s a lot of enticing things coming her way down in Asia, where she wants to play her best tennis down there as well, and she’ll be very much in demand. Who knows? Maybe if there’s a worry about the ranking drop, as you’ve said, with so many points to defend, and potentially that ranking could plummet, although she might benefit from the protected ranking.”
