(Tennis news) With less than two weeks for the Australian Open remaining, Emma Raducanu suffered a new setback after sustaining an ankle injury against Slovakia’s Viktoria Kuzmova in Auckland. The British tennis star was 6-0 in just 20 minutes against Kuzmova but faced a tougher second set, receiving treatment on her ankle before being forced to withdraw in the third set. Raducanu was broken at 2-2 and fell 4-2 behind in the second set but broke back in the 10th game to make it 5-5. However, she was broken in the next game and ended up losing the second set 7-5.

Raducanu was forced to heavily strap her left ankle during a medical timeout and despite attempting to play on, it was clear that the 20 year old was really struggling and could not carry on. After her shocking victory at the US Open in 2021, Raducanu has been marred by injuries, being forced to retire four times in 2022 and suffered a wrist injury last year that kept her out for a few months. Being forced to withdraw meant that Kuzmova will now take on Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic in the quarter-finals who defeated American Lauren Davis in three sets 4-6 6-3 6-2.

“I’ve put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I’ve been feeling good and optimistic. 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 … we’ll assess over the next few days and see what the next steps are.”

Emma Raducanu

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