Emma Raducanu leaves tennis fans saddened after latest withdrawal

Emma Raducanu's wretched run of luck has continued, with the British tennis player announcing her withdrawal from this week's WTA tournament in Austin, Texas. The 2021 US Open champion took to social media on Sunday night, revealing that she has tonsilitis and won't be able to play the inaugural ATX Open.

The 20-year-old hasn't played since suffering a second-round loss to Coco Gauff at the Australian Open in January. She's only played four matches this season after rolling her ankle in Auckland ahead of the Melbourne Park grand slam.

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"I'm sorry to have to withdraw from the ATX Open," she said. "I am currently suffering from tonsillitis and am unable to compete this week. Thank you to the tournament and the great hospitality here in Austin."

Raducanu spent several days practising in Texas, but was forced to withdraw on the eve of the event. However it doesn't appear as though she will be out for long, writing on Instagram: “Sad to be missing Austin but on the mend.”

The British No.1 will now head to Indian Wells to prepare for the WTA 1000 event, while also targeting an appearance at the Miami Open. The 20-year-old shot to stardom at the US Open in 2021 when she became the first qualifier in tennis history to win a grand slam.

However she has struggled for consistency since, while also suffering a number of injuries that have hampered her progress. She ended her 2022 season early after sustaining a wrist injury in October, before she was forced to withdraw in Auckland early in January after hurting her ankle.

"It's difficult to take. I've put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I've been feeling good and optimistic," she said in Auckland. "So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle is pretty disappointing, in the first week as well. I thought I was playing some pretty decent tennis.

"The courts are incredibly slick, like very slippery, so to be honest it's not a surprise that this happened to someone. It's out of my control and after a very long day of waiting around. But we'll assess over the next few days and see what the next steps are."

Raducanu was also forced to retire hurt during the semi-finals of the Korea Open in September with a glute problem. That followed a first-round retirement at the Nottingham Open in the lead-up to Wimbledon, though Raducanu ultimately recovered to reach the second round of the grass-court major.

She made the first of four mid-match retirements last year while playing Daria Gavrilova in Mexico in February due to a hip issue. She retired again at the Rome Masters in May, this time with a back problem.

Emma Raducanu onto fifth coach in last 18 months

Raducanu has also gone through a number of coaching changes in the last 12 months and is now onto her fifth different mentor. The 20-year-old is currently working with Sebastien Sachs, who guided Belinda Bencic to an Olympic gold medal at Tokyo 2020 and has previously worked with former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka.

And in a candid interview with Tennis Majors, former coach Dmitry Tursunov claimed there were a number of 'red flags' during his time with Raducanu. "We didn't agree on the terms and there were some red flags that just couldn't be ignored,” Tursunov told the publication.

“Our trial period was over at the US Open but I stuck around, trying to see if there was going to be a way to impress the team. I really wanted to make it work.”

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