Emma Raducanu was not granted one of the wild cards for the Rothesay International Eastbourne. However, the British No. 1 player is now eligible to compete at Wimbledon despite having played only seven games of competitive preparation on the grass.
Raducanu suffered an injury in Nottingham and was forced to withdraw from her first-round match against Viktorija Golubic. She is now in a race against time to be fit for Wimbledon.
The fact that Raducanu could only play seven games before being forced to stop fueled rumors that she will compete in the event at Devonshire Park to get some grass practice before returning to Wimbledon.
Raducanu to play at Hurlingham Club
The winner of the U.S. Open had until Friday at 4 p.m. to take a wild card to enter the Eastbourne tournament, which starts on June 20, but the 19-year-old has decided not to do so.
She may instead decide to compete in a match in the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic exhibition that will be held at the Hurlingham Club the following week. Still, even if she does, she would enter the grass-court portion of her home Grand Slam with little preparation on the field.
After a start to the 2022 season that has been marred by several niggles, Raducanu’s camp is reasonably hesitant about rushing her into action too soon.
Dart, Boulter receive main-draw wildcards
As a token of appreciation for their outstanding play on grass courts, Harriet Dart, Katie Boulter, and Jodie Burrage have each been given a main-draw wildcard for the Eastbourne tournament alongside Ryan Peniston, Jack Draper, and Jay Clarke. In comparison, the automatic British entrants were Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans.
Dart and Boulter reached the quarterfinals of the Nottingham Open and Birmingham Classic, respectively, and Burrage reached the last 16 of the Nottingham Open.
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Serena Williams will play in the WTA Tour doubles tournament in Eastbourne after a one-year absence. Williams has won the Wimbledon singles event seven times. The American star, who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, will team up with Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
Raducanu sustains injury
Raducanu’s injury in Nottingham is the latest in a string of health problems for the world number 11, who has struggled to adjust to life on the WTA Tour since her grand slam win in September.
At last year’s Wimbledon, Raducanu rushed to the stage with victories over Vitalia Diachenko, Marta von Drusova, and Solana Silstea to become the youngest British women to reach the last 16 of the tournament in the Open season.
Following her performance in London, the teenager managed to create one of the biggest shocks in sports history with the U.S. Open success after an initial qualifying run at the US Open.
Although Raducanu has not made a significant impression at any of the Grand Slam tournaments this year (she reached the second round at the Australian Open and Roland Garros), there were high expectations for her return to Wimbledon.
