The 2024 season had been sporadic with Emma Raducanu playing just 36 matches: The only upside being her fighting her way back to 56th after falling out of the top 300. Come 2025, the optimistic Canadian had big hopes, or at least that is what she thought at the pre-ASB Classic conference on Monday: “I’m just ready to push on and build on and I’ve… taken measures and steps to do that with my team.” True. Effective steps were taken considering she hired the esteemed strength and conditioning coach Yutaka Nakamura on a full-time basis. It hasn’t been a month since but Emma has already hit a bump on the road!

Just a few hours before her R32 match against America’s Robin Montgomery, the 22-year-old announced her withdrawal from the 2025 ASB Classic. What a setback! Why? Well, we saw her traveling to New Zealand in advance with her coach, Nick Cavaday, and her new fitness coach, Yukata Nakamura. She even began her intense preseason training sessions to get things going the right way from the start in 2025.

Not to forget, the Auckland event would have marked the first time she has been seeded in a tournament in almost two years! “I haven’t been seeded in a while,” Raducanu said. “It doesn’t really make a difference though. I feel like everyone and the depth of the women’s game right now is so strong that literally anyone can win any tournament.” True, but, for Emma, fate had other plans. Raducanu made an announcement saying,

“I’ve tried my best to be ready. I love Auckland and the fans here. But unfortunately, I’ve picked up a back niggle and I won’t be ready in time.” Interestingly now, Emma Raducanu isn’t slated to compete at any other warmup tournaments before her AO campaign. Will she take part in the AO, though? We don’t know but just hours after her withdrawal, tennis insider Chris Goldsmith shared a tweet highlighting,

“Don’t forget tennis players if you are not fit to play at the Australian Open then pull out before the Qualifying draw comes out.” He further added, “There are players desperate to play. Some it will be a great experience, some it could be crucial financially.“ Albeit the fact that the post didn’t single out a specific player, his followers certainly made it all about Emma Raducanu. In 2024, we saw Raducanu withdraw from the Miami Open. Then after that, she was forced to give a walkover in her QF match of the Korea Open against Daria Kasatkina (RUS) when the scoreline was 6-1 in favor of the Russian. Reason? Well, it was a foot injury at that time.

She was forced to miss the remainder of the Asian swing, including some big events like the WTA 1000 tournaments in Wuhan and Beijing. After her withdrawal from the Hong Kong Open, Raducanu said, “Hellooo, I’m sorry to say that I will not be able to play in Hong Kong next week. Whilst my foot is making good progress, I need a little more time before I am match-fit. I hope to be able to come back and play this tournament in the future! In the meantime, I am doing what I can to be ready for BJKC.“

She came back to the BJP Cup and represented her nation at that tournament. Although Great Britain couldn’t secure the title, Emma Raducanu finished the tournament with a 100% win record. So, everyone had hoped that brighter things would be lined up ahead of the Brit in 2025 but things didn’t go as planned. Emma Raducanu recently even shared a screenshot of her phone’s home screen on IG, accompanied by a New Year message. The post featured Brent Morgan’s ‘Gonna Be Okay.’ She perhaps might have hinted at her recovery. 

Fans summon Emma Raducanu to take accountability for unintended repercussions

Starting the 2024 season ranking 301 and managing to end the year at the 56th spot in the women’s singles ranking is noteworthy. During an interview with BBC, Raducanu felt fortunate to be able to pull something like that with injuries considering, “Sometimes I need reminding: I’m top 60 and I’ve played less than 15 events, which is pretty unheard of. I have to pat myself on the back for that.” That said, she had just one goal walking into 2025, and that is “to play more than I did this year.“

Her withdrawal is definitely an early blow to the season but it’ll be interesting to see how or if she bounce back to form from here especially when the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2025 season is just a week away. X users, for one, aren’t look too optimistic and instead dragged her name into taking some accountability for her actions, “You listening Emma?” This user decided to take it up a notch when they wrote, “Exactly. Have some decency for others and withdraw your entry asap to let others take your place. Withdrawing at the 11th hour is not fair and needs to stop.”

Another followed up, “A very good point. Raducanu are you listening.“

Emma Raducanu’s best record at the AO was reaching the second round in the last three seasons. How far can she reach this time around? Oh, wait a minute, some fans aren’t yet sure about her participation in the AO. One fan commented on his post, saying, “Chris does that include Emma?” They felt perhaps that the message in the tweet was perfectly suited for someone like Emma Raducanu. 

Previously we have seen, Roger Federer’s former coach, Paul Annacone putting up a question mark on Raducanu’s persistent injury issues by saying, “When is she gonna get and stay healthy guys?” Not only Annacone, finance expert and professor of Applied Sports Finance at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr. Rob Wilson said, “Emma Raducanu needs to be winning games to keep her commercial deals up.” So, there is already a lot to worry about for the Brit and now, after seeing Goldsmith’s recent post, another fan commented, “Like Emma Raducanu? 🤣“

Do you think Emma Raducanu can win a major title in the next twelve months?