Emma Raducanu is having a disappointing 2022 season, given the standards she set last year. She caught everyone’s eyes with her glorious US Open campaign. Raducanu emerged from the qualifying rounds to win her maiden Grand Slam title. However, she is yet to reach the semifinal stage of the tournament, this season.

The British tennis star was in Rome this week to participate at the Italian Open. Her journey was cut short in the first round against Bianca Andreescu after she had to retire owing to a back injury. After the match, she opened up about her latest injury setback.

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Emma Raducanu on her back injury

During the post-match interview, the reigning US Open champion revealed her struggles due to injuries. She said, “I mean, yeah, definitely disappointed with how today went. But I guess I wanted to give it a try. I never really knew how bad it was until I kind of went out there. For me, like I’m still learning when it’s right to push my body and push through it, and when’s not.”

Further, she added, “Yeah, I guess that’s something I’m kind of learning at these tournaments. The difference is I’m probably doing it at bigger some tournaments, not like smaller tournaments on the way up. Yeah, I mean, it’s tough.”

Raducanu opens up on playing with injuries

Asked whether her back injury was a long-term issue, she said, “Yeah, I mean, I guess after Madrid I thought that maybe taking one, two days off, it would just go away because a lot of the other small niggles I’ve had, they’ve kind of gone away after taking, like, two days off. Then I got here and I was training, but it just didn’t seem to get better. I was kind of training with some limitations. Like I wasn’t moving really, I was just playing where I knew where the ball was coming, just staying in one corner. I think I must have underestimated the unpredictability of competition in a match, you have to react.”

Talking about her opponent and the match against her, she said, “Yeah, definitely, like, I felt today in the match it was just pushing too hard. Yeah, I genuinely didn’t think I could carry on because I was, like, really struggling to move. Bianca is a great player. She’s not going to let up and just hit the ball to you. Yeah, credit to her for staying on me 100%.”

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Raducanu will hope to get back fit in time for the French Open later this month. Meanwhile, Andreescu won her second round against Nuria Parrizas Diaz at the Italian Open. She will take on Petra Martic of Croatia for a place in the quarterfinals.