What a setback! Just a few hours before her R32 match against America’s, Robin Montgomery, Emma Raducanu announced her withdrawal from the 2025 ASB Classic. Raducanu has suffered a lot from injuries and health concerns ever since her historic triumph at the 2021 US Open. In 2023, her biggest setback came in when she had to prematurely call time on her season after undergoing three surgeries on her ankles and wrists. She made a comeback in 2024 and could play only 36 matches this season. Seeing her recent withdrawal from the ASB Classic, some fans are now criticizing her, saying she might also opt for a last-minute withdrawal at the 2025 AO.
What was the exact reason behind Emma Raducanu’s withdrawal from the 2025 ASB Classic, though? Well, we saw her traveling to New Zealand in advance with her coach, Nick Cavaday, and her new fitness coach, Yukata Nakamura. She even began her intense preseason training sessions to get things going right from the start in 2025. However, not always everything goes by our plans, right? And, that’s exactly what happened to Emma Raducanu.
Just a few hours before the match, Raducanu made an announcement saying, “I’ve tried my best to be ready. I love Auckland and the fans here. But unfortunately, I’ve picked up a back niggle and I won’t be ready in time.” Interestingly now, Emma Raducanu isn’t slated to compete at any other warmup tournaments before her AO campaign. Will she take part at the AO, though? We don’t know but recently a tennis insider, Chris Goldsmith shared a tweet highlighting, “Don’t forget tennis players if you are not fit to play at the Australian Open then pull out before the Qualifying draw comes out.“
He further added, “There are players desperate to play. Some it will be a great experience, some it could be crucial financially.“ After seeing this post, fans some of the fans felt this post was pretty much apt for someone like Emma Raducanu. In 2024, we saw Raducanu withdraw from the Miami Open. Then after that, she was forced to give a walkover in her QF match of the Korea Open against Daria Kasatkina (RUS) when the scoreline was 6-1 in favor of the Russian. Reason? Well, it was a foot injury at that time.
She was forced to miss the remainder of the Asian swing, including some big events like the WTA 1000 tournaments in Wuhan and Beijing. After her withdrawal from the Hong Kong Open, Raducanu said, “Hellooo, I’m sorry to say that I will not be able to play in Hong Kong next week. Whilst my foot is making good progress, I need a little more time before I am match-fit. I hope to be able to come back and play this tournament in the future! In the meantime, I am doing what I can to be ready for BJKC.
She came back at the BJP Cup and represented her nation at that tournament. Although Great Britain couldn’t secure the title, Emma Raducanu finished the tournament with a 100% win record. So, everyone was hoping that brighter things would be lined up ahead of the Brit in 2025 but things didn’t go as planned. Emma Raducanu recently even shared a screenshot of her phone’s home screen on IG, accompanied by a New Year message. The post featured Brent Morgan’s ‘Gonna Be Okay.’ She perhaps might have hinted at her recovery. We’ll closely monitor her progress in the next few days but till then let’s shift our focus to the criticism she has been facing for her recent withdrawal.
What’s your perspective on:
Is Emma Raducanu’s career plagued by bad luck, or is there more to her frequent withdrawals?
Have an interesting take?
Fans aren’t too pleased with Emma Raducanu’s last-minute withdrawal in Auckland ahead of the 2025 AO
Emma Raducanu started the 2024 season ranking 301 in the world and despite a bit of struggles with injury issues, she managed to end the year at the 56th spot in the women’s singles ranking. So, highlighting this massive jump during an interview with BBC, she said, “Sometimes I need reminding: I’m top 60 and I’ve played less than 15 events, which is pretty unheard of. I have to pat myself on the back for that.” However, now the 2024 season is over and we’ve already entered the 2025 season.
What are her goals in this season? “I want to play more than I did this year,” said Raducanu in an interview with PA. She wants to stay longer on the court this season. However, her goals recently dealt with an early blow. Now it’ll be interesting to see how quickly she recovers from that injury and gets back to her winning tracks. However, after seeing Chris Goldsmith’s recent tweet on last-minute withdrawals ahead of the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2025 season, some of the fans didn’t look too optimistic about Raducanu’s participation in that mega event. They commented on his post asking, “You listening Emma.
Emma Raducanu’s best record at the AO was reaching the second round in the last three seasons. How far can he reach this time around? Oh, wait a minute, some of the fans aren’t yet too sure about her participation in the AO. One of the fans commented on his post saying, “Chris does that include Emma?” They felt perhaps that the message in the tweet was perfectly suited for someone like Emma Raducanu.
Despite her ongoing struggles with injuries, Emma Raducanu is leaving no stone unturned on her mission to become “one of the best athletes in tennis.” She recently, hired, renowned fitness coach, Yukata Nakamura to help her battle her ongoing war with injury concerns. Nakamura has trained the likes of Maria Sharapova and Naomi Osaka. So, it’ll be interesting to see if he can do wonders and make Raducanu fully fit ahead of the AO. Another fan, however, commented on Chris Goldsmith’s post saying, “A very good point. Raducanu are you listening.
Previously we have seen, Roger Federer’s former coach, Paul Annacone putting up a question mark on Raducanu’s persistent injury issues by saying, “When is she gonna get and stay healthy guys?” Not only Annacone though, we even saw a renowned finance expert highlighting how this drop in form and lack of matches can prove costly for Emma Raducanu. The professor of Applied Sports Finance at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr. Rob Wilson said, “Emma Raducanu needs to be winning games to keep her commercial deals up.” So, there is already a lot to worry about for the Brit and now after seeing Goldsmith’s recent post, another fan commented, “Like Emma Raducanu? “
During a recent interview at the ASB Classic, Raducanu said that all wants now is to push herself and see how far can she go from here on. Can she put an end to her frequent withdrawals? Well, time will tell! Seeing the serious topic raised by Goldsmith in his tweet another fan wrote, “Exactly. Have some decency for others and withdraw your entry asap to let others take your place. Withdrawing at the 11th hour is not fair and needs to stop.” Do you think Emma Raducanu can win a major title in the next twelve months?
