Emma Raducanu spotted with protective boot sparking fears she will miss rest of year with injury
EMMA RADUCANU was spotted wearing a protective boot sparking fears she could miss the rest of the year through injury.
The British tennis sensation, 21, pulled out of her quarter-final at the Korea Open amid struggles with a foot problem.
And when Raducanu visited Great Ormond Street Hospital last week, she did so wearing the moon boot on her left foot.
The 2021 US Open champion was pictured chatting to some of the children and posing for photographs.
She did so wearing a pair of loose, pale trousers which largely covered the protective support.
Great Ormond Steet were delighted to welcome back Raducanu, who also visited the children’s hospital in July following Wimbledon.
They wrote on Instagram: “We were thrilled to welcome our friend and tennis star @emmaraducanu back to the hospital after her visit earlier this year.
“Emma met staff and patients as she visited the Physiotherapy department, and there were plenty of smiles when she joined in on a session.
“Thanks for stopping by, Emma.”
The boot will give tennis fans concerns that her injury sustained in Korea is worse than first feared – and she could be sidelined for a while.
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Raducanu hoped to enjoy a successful swing in Asia – especially as her mother is from China – but was forced to sit out of the two WTA 1000 tournaments there in Beijing and Wuhan.
The Ningbo Open is on this week, followed by the Guangzhou Open next week before events in Hong Kong and Jiujiang.
The Hong Kong tournament is understood to still be a target.
However, should she lose the race to be fit for that, Korea could spell the end of Raducanu’s 2024 season.
She was picked for Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals in mid-November – where GB take on Germany in Malaga – but Raducanu would likely withdraw if she has gone almost two months without competitive action.
But after a year of coming back to the tour following her triple surgery in 2023, the world No56 sent a warning shot to her rivals ahead of the 2025 season.
Raducanu told Women’s Health magazine: “I’m prepared to work hard and do some damage next year. I want to work on becoming a better tennis player.
Wimbledon ditching line judges a double fault for British tennis
By Joshua Jones
THE absence of line judges at Wimbledon will be a sad sight.
For as long as I can remember, the men and women decked out in their Ralph Lauren outfits have been part of the furniture at the All England Club.
Yes, they provided some mild entertainment on the court when one would call “fault” with plenty of extra, and unnecessary, gusto and volume that boomed around Centre Court, prompting a snigger from the fans.
Then there was the ongoing game of dodgeball they had to play when a big serve nailed a mammoth ace down the line and they had to take rapid evasive action or take a whack to the top of the head.
And challenges provided some audience participation, excitedly joining in the clapping countdown before the inevitable “oooh” when the graphic showed just how close the ball was to landing in or out.
Purely objectively, Wimbledon’s decision to replace line judges with Hawk-Eye Live makes total sense.
The accuracy and consistency of calls in real-time will speed things up, save time and should mark the end of arguments over the tight incorrect calls – well, until the technology malfunctions.
And Wimbledon’s hand was somewhat forced to ditch tradition for their standing in tennis.
The Australian Open and US Open already use electronic line calling and the ATP Tour is adopting Hawk-Eye Live across all of its tournaments from 2025.
Wimbledon’s refusal to comply would leave them lagging behind and exposed to the threat of needless controversy over human error.
But the impact – as is so often the case in these decisions – has ramifications further down, below the surface with very little impact on Wimbledon’s Championships or the players.
It is on the line judges themselves.
Approximately 300 officials – aged from 18 to 80 – covered more than 650 matches at Wimbledon.
A fraction travel internationally with the circuit but the vast majority of those are part-time line judges based in the UK, earning up to £180 per day to work at the prestigious tournament and their chance to play their part at Wimbledon.
For many, they will help out at British tournaments throughout the year, spurred on by the possibility of taking to the lawns of the All England Club.
But it is understood many of those officials would be reluctant to work at the lower-level tournaments without the carrot of Wimbledon dangling in the summer.
That in turn will put a major stumbling block in the pathway for British tennis umpires, who grind up through the ranks to reach the pinnacle of the sport.
Like football with referees, tennis needs umpires and line judges.
So the inability to call “out” at Wimbledon could prove to be a major “fault” for the future of the UK’s tennis officials and therefore the state of the sport on these shores.
“There has been a lot of volatility over the past three years and I think the most I’ve come into myself has been in the last few weeks.
“I’ve taught myself not to label things as black or white. For example, with this injury, I’m trying to catch myself and stop labelling it as like, ‘Oh, I’m so unlucky, this is so bad.’
“I’ve learnt to accept things and reframe them. I’m not completely unable to exercise, so I’ll still do things like yoga or Pilates – low-impact exercise, so I’m focusing on that. I’ve matured a lot in the last few weeks, to be honest.”
Away from tennis, Raducanu reportedly had her stunning £125,000 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet “taken back” by Porsche.
She signed a lucrative contract with the German car giants following her New York fairytale but was soon spotted driving around in her much-loved £5,000 second-hand Dacia Sandero after the 911 was recalled.
However, less than a week after the news of Porsche reclaiming the motor, Raducanu took to Instagram with a cryptic image – appearing to be sat in the luxury motor – alongside a quote which read: “Like I Vanished and Reappeared.”