Emma Raducanu RETIRES just 33 minutes into her first match back on grass

Emma Raducanu said she did not know if she would be fit for Wimbledon after a ‘freak’ injury forced to retire hurt just seven games into her first grass court game of the summer.

The 19-year-old, who has now been forced to retire from three tournaments since winning the US Open last September, said she felt pain in her left side from the moment she served in her Nottingham Open first round match against the world No 55 Viktorija Golubic.

She took painkillers and was laid out flat on court for treatment during two change of ends, later declaring that she would seek a scan. Even a period of enforced rest would affect her warm-up preparations for Wimbledon, with severe doubts about her fulfilling a planned appearance at next week’s Birmingham Tennis Tournament.

Asked if she felt in her heart that Wimbledon was a possibility, she said: ‘I have no idea. It could have just seized up and gone into spasm and then it is really bad for a few days. I have no idea. I cannot diagnosis myself. I will get it checked out.’

She said she had no idea of the prognosis. ‘Well, I don’t know,’ she said.’ I need to get a scan first. I am not going to Google Doctor myself! I will get it checked out. Then we will see from there.’

The pain was ‘on the side of my body. Maybe around my rib,’ she said. An abdominal issue would be a different complaint to the persistent back pain which caused her to retire from her first round Italian Open match in May, after experiencing similar trouble in Madrid and Stuttgart. She also played through back pain for GB at a Billie Jean Cup qualifier in Prague, in April.

Emma Raducanu was forced to retire at the Nottingham Open following an issue with her ribs

The British No 1 will now be a question mark for Wimbledon having pulled out in Nottingham

Asked if this seemed unconnected to the back trouble, she said: ‘Yeah completely. It was just the first game, something random. An absolute freak. I think I pulled something, I am not really sure what exactly happened. An absolute freak injury. I don’t know what I could have done more about it. That is it.’

Raducanu clutched the left side of her back after her first attempt to serve, in an opening game she lost, having double faulted on the third point.

Briefly, there were signs of the Raducanu who Wimbledon audiences remember from last summer – making a fist with her hand after a number of strong, winning groundstrokes. She has been undertaking more gym work and looks physically stronger and more muscular than the 18-year old who wowed Wimbledon a year ago. She has spoken of being ‘more physical’ on the court. She led 3-1.

She attempted to carry on but her movement was compromised as she winced in moments

A staff member carried out Raducanu’s bag to alleviate any additional stress in Nottingham

But the injury was clearly making serving difficult. She lost three of her four service games before retiring after 35 minutes with the match at 5-3 in her Swiss opponent’s favour. By the end, she was struggling to reach for ground strokes on the backhand side.

‘I was like, “This doesn’t feel right at all,”‘ she said. ‘And then I was thinking “I don’t know how I am going to do this.” But if you do something in the first game people will be like, “Well why did you walk on to the court?”

‘I definitely tried to get through it but in the second game I called the physio on and at the first changeover she was trying to do some work but even from there she told me it was going to be really difficult to continue.’

She said had no idea if she would play Birmingham next week. ‘I haven’t thought about it to be honest,’ she said. ‘Having gone out of the way I did, I am not exactly thinking about next week.’

See also  Blizzards batter Britain: Snow causes chaos in South West

The British teenager had her head bowed as she walked off the court following her decision