Emma Raducanu suffered a foot injury that saw her withdraw from the Korea Open quarter-finals; She confirmed she sprained ligaments and will miss the China Open; Watch ATP and WTA action on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+ which is integrated into Sky TV, NOW and the app
Monday 23 September 2024 14:14, UK
Emma Raducanu will miss the China Open with a foot injury that "needs time to heal".
The former US Open winner posted a statement on social media, saying: "Hello, last week in Seoul I sprained some ligaments in my foot which unfortunately need some more time to heal.
"It means I can't play in Beijing but I hope to be back competing as soon as I can."
The injury forced her to retire in the Korea Open quarter-finals in her contest against Daria Kasatkina and she will now miss the WTA 1000 event beginning on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, during the 2024 season, injury concerns have returned again at times too - notably at the Miami Open, with Raducanu forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a lower back injury after being awarded a wildcard for the event.
Raducanu was also hampered by a stomach bug during her loss at the first major of the year, the Australian Open, but her tennis was encouraging and she stepped up her comeback with victory over Bouzkova in Abu Dhabi thereafter.
Raducanu sat out the second major of the year, withdrawing just 24 hours before French Open qualifying was due to begin, in a bid to give herself a "chance to keep fit for the rest of the year."
Sadly, that did not go entirely to plan. An untimely slip on the Centre Court grass stopped all of Raducanu's momentum as she was putting together an impressive run at Wimbledon.
In the first game of the deciding set of her last-16 clash with Lulu Sun, Raducanu lost her footing whilst sliding for a forehand, then had to call on the trainer. Raducanu received treatment on her lower left leg and the middle of her back - which appeared to be bothering her throughout the match - and although she saw out the match, slumped to defeat just as she seemed to be finding her best form.
Having recovered from surgeries in 2023, Raducanu continued to manage injury risk, deciding against representing Team GB at the Paris Olympics because she did not want to switch back to playing on clay at Roland Garros ahead of the hard court tournaments in the USA.
At the Korea Open in September, Raducanu retired in the quarter-finals due to a foot injury and now misses the China Open.
Watch both the China Open and Japan Open, live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+ from Wednesday, September 25, with coverage of day one under way from 4am.
Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.
