Twenty-year-old tennis star Emma Raducanu has shared sad personal news in a handwritten note that’s shocked her fans.
Emma Raducanu has revealed she will miss the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open after having surgery on both her hands and ankle.
The British star, 20, is undergoing three “minor procedures” to try and fix her ongoing physical issues.
The 2021 US Open champion has been dogged by injury problems in recent months and pulled out of the Madrid Open last month with a hand injury.
The world No. 85 on Thursday posted a photo of herself in a hospital bed with her right hand bandaged on her social media accounts.
The shock announcement showed Raducanu had been keeping the severity of the injuries a secret for some time.
The sudden operations also further explain the frosty 58-word press conference she held at the Madrid Open before announcing shortly after she was withdrawing from the tournament.
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In a handwritten note for her 2.5 million Instagram followers, Raducanu posted: “It is safe to say the last 10 months have been difficult as I dealt with a recurring injury on a bone of both hands.
“I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it for most of this year and end of last year by reducing practice load dramatically, missing weeks of training as well as cutting last season short to try heal it.
“Unfortunately it’s not enough. I’m having a minor procedure done on both hands to resolve the issues.
“I’m disappointed to share that I will be out for the next few months and while I am at it will have another minor procedure that is due on my ankle.
“It pains me that I will miss the summer events and I tried to downplay the issues so I thank all my fans who continued to support me when you did not know the facts.”
“Looking forward to seeing you all back out there.”
The former world No. 10 had the surgery on the top of her playing right hand – the most problematic of the issues – on Thursday.
She is set to have the operation on her left hand this month after going under the knife in the coming weeks for her left ankle.
The Sun reports it is understood the surgery went fine and there are no concerns about her chances of making a full recovery.
Raducanu hopes to be training on the tennis court again by the end of the summer but her team are refusing to predict an exact return date to competition.
Fans, fellow players, sponsors, tournaments and even Ian Wright flooded the comments section on the post with messages of support.
Raducanu has struggled for form and fitness since her miraculous US Open win in September 2021.
Emma Raducanu at Wimbledon last year. Photo by AELTC/Joe Toth – Pool/Getty Images.
She dropped out of the world’s top 100 in the rankings last month and has taken the decision to undergo the multiple procedures.
Raducanu made a name for herself at Wimbledon in 2021 with her run to the fourth round.
And she stunned the sporting world as she won at Flushing Meadows as a qualifier without dropping a single set.
Raducanu has won five of her ten matches in 2023, reaching the second round at the Australian Open, but has lost her last three at Indian Wells, Miami and the Porsche event in Stuttgart.
She also pulled out of the tournament in Auckland in January after rolling that left ankle and withdrew from the ATX Austin Open with tonsillitis.
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