Former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu will miss the 2026 U.S. Open due to a lower-right-leg stress fracture sustained during the grass-court season. The injury, which worsened from a niggle into a fracture and forced her Wimbledon withdrawal, requires extended rehabilitation as her ranking slides from 49.
Emma Raducanu will sit out the remainder of the major calendar after medical consultations confirmed that a lower-leg injury has developed into a stress fracture as she continues her recovery. The British number one sustained the damage during the grass-court buildup to Wimbledon, where she made a late decision to withdraw on the eve of her scheduled first-round match against Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic on Court One.
While speculation had grown regarding her status for the hard-court major in New York, the decision was finalized following recent consultations with her medical team according to reporting from the Press Association. Raducanu has recently taken tentative steps back on court wearing an orthopaedic boot, but she has not set a target date for her return to competitive play as her ranking slides from 49.
Wimbledon Withdrawal and Queen’s Club Turning Point
The physical breakdown traces back directly to one of the most productive weeks of the Briton’s recent campaign. Raducanu reached the final at Queen’s Club in June—her second final since her 2021 run through Flushing Meadows as a qualifier before losing in straight sets to Donna Vekić.
That demanding grass-court run exacerbated a lower-leg issue she had been managing since the conclusion of the clay-court season according to statements she shared with reporters prior to her Wimbledon exit. Though she attempted to practice and test her movement ahead of her opening home match, a final scan revealed the true severity of the damage.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but sadly I’ve had to withdraw from this year’s Wimbledon. I’ve done everything possible to try to get to the start line tomorrow but after a final scan tonight, the niggle I’ve been managing has developed into a stress fracture and I’ve been medically advised to stop pushing through.”
Emma Raducanu, via ESPN
Raducanu added in her statement that playing at Wimbledon, in front of a home crowd, means everything to me, so this is really difficult to process.
Despite attempts to manage the workload with her team, rehabilitation for this specific lower-leg fracture could take as long as two months, effectively ruling her out of contention at Flushing Meadows.
A Disrupted Season and Persistent Physical Hurdles
The latest setback compounds a stop-start year that has severely limited Raducanu’s court time. Of the 21 matches she has contested across the tour in 2026 five came during her runner-up finish at Queen’s. Her pre-season training was heavily compromised by bone bruising in her foot, followed by a two-and-a-half-month absence due to a persistent post-viral illness that began in early February before she returned for the end of the clay-court swing.
There have been positive signs on the coaching front. Raducanu reunited with Andrew Richardson, the coach who guided her to her breakthrough grand slam title as a teenager in 2021. However, their second stint together has seen minimal actual match play due to the recurring physical interruptions.
Rehab in Switzerland and Timeline Uncertainties
In the wake of her withdrawal, Raducanu shared updates from St Moritz, Switzerland where she has continued her rehabilitation. Social media clips showed her hitting serves while standing up on a clay court while still wearing her protective orthopaedic boot. In another lighthearted post addressing her recovery device while seated near a waste receptacle, she captioned the clip not in the bin but on the bin,
alongside a description of the trip as her best reset ever
according to coverage from Sky Sports.
Beyond missing the New York major—which runs from August 30 through September 13 —Raducanu was omitted from Great Britain’s squad for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals scheduled for late September in Shenzhen. The side will instead be represented by Katie Boulter, Harriet Dart, Mika Stojsavljevic, and Jodie Burrage leaving substantial question marks over whether the 23-year-old will feature again on court before the conclusion of the 2026 season as her ranking slides from 49.
