sport news MIKE DICKSON: Emma Raducanu missing Wimbledon after wrist and ankle surgery ... trends now
Seeing the picture Emma Raducanu posted of herself yesterday from a hospital bed, it was tempting to think that it was the happiest she has looked for a while.
The smile almost suggested as much, but of course that cannot be the case because for any tennis player to miss the next three Grand Slams — including Wimbledon — is a crushing blow.
Nonetheless, there may be a part of her which is at least relieved that something decisive has been done when it comes to fixing her body, which has been repeatedly breaking down under the strain of trying to compete on an unforgiving world tour.
The image dispensed to her 2.5million Instagram followers was accompanied by that of an immaculately handwritten note, which would have quietly satisfied the teachers at her girls’ grammar school.
In addition to telling of the bones at the bottom of each hand which are being attended to, she nonchalantly added that, while she was at it, she would be having a similarly minor procedure performed on her ankle.
Emma Raducanu has been ruled out of Wimbledon and the French Open due to a wrist injury
Raducanu shot to fame when she pulled off an incredible Grand Slam win at Flushing Meadows
Raducanu said it 'pained her' to miss out on the summer tournaments after undergoing surgery on both of her hands
That tells of the assorted physical problems Raducanu has had since she burst on to the scene and, incredibly, managed to win the US Open less than four months after completing her school education. Progressively, the whole experience of trying to live up to that has become less fun.
It culminated in a monosyllabic encounter with the media prior to her pulling out of the Madrid Open last week, a withdrawal which saw Raducanu drop out of the world’s top 100.
Around that time it had been concluded by specialists that the best way forward was to operate. There would be no more trying to play through with the handicap of not being able to put in the requisite training hours.
That dawning realisation perhaps explains last week’s uncharacteristic terseness.
It seems the player herself had already concluded that stopgap measures were not working. At the Miami Open on March 22 she had said, ‘the current solutions aren’t very viable long-term’, admitting it had all become ‘annoying and frustrating’.
Appearances backed that up. So had the various reports from places such as Roehampton’s
