Emma Raducanu is expected to be healthy in time to compete at Wimbledon after receiving encouraging results from the scan she underwent after her retirement from the Rothesay Open in Nottingham on Tuesday.
Raducanu announced her withdrawal on Wednesday from the Rothesay Classic in Birmingham, a WTA 250 event she was scheduled to compete in next week. It is believed she will recover in time to request a wildcard into the Rothesay International at Eastbourne the following week.
“It was disappointing to go out this week with a side injury and unfortunately I will no longer be able to play in Birmingham,” she said. “I’m looking forward to be back on the match court soon, though, to enjoy the rest of the grass season.”
Raducanu sustained what she described as a “freak” injury, an acute side strain, in the first round of the Rothesay Open in the opening game. She retired in the first set while trailing Viktorija Golubic 3-4 in her first official match on home soil since her US Open triumph. Raducanu had a scan on Tuesday night and is said to have received some reassuring news from its results.
Raducanu will spend the next few days resting from physical activity before building up again for the remainder of the grass season.
The Eastbourne main draw begins on 19 June, the last tournament week before Wimbledon, and it will be the target for her return. A WTA 500 event, Eastbourne boasts an extremely strong field with eight of the top 10 women entered.
This is the latest in a long list of injuries for Raducanu since the end of last year, most recently a back problem that put her French Open campaign in doubt. After her second-round defeat in Paris Raducanu was satisfied with how her body had held up, allowing her to take a wildcard into Nottingham. But she is now back to the familiar sensation of recovering from an injury.
Meanwhile, Tara Moore, the British doubles No 1 and world No 83, has been provisionally suspended from competition after testing positive for Nandrolone metabolites and Boldenone and its metabolite.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Wednesday that Moore tested positive for a sample she provided in April while competing at the Copa Colsanitas in Bogotá, Colombia, where she reached the final.
“I have never knowingly taken a banned substance in my career,” Moore said. “I am investigating how the positive result could have occurred and look forward to proving that I am a clean athlete. I am deeply saddened by the provisional suspension and hope to be back on the court as soon as possible.”
Moore has the option of requesting that her B sample, collected at the same time, is analysed and she will have a hearing at a later date.
“We are aware of the provisional suspension. This matter is the subject of ongoing due process which will be managed independently by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). To preserve the integrity of the process the LTA will not comment further until the matter has been concluded,” said the LTA.
The 29-year-old reached a singles career-high of 145 in 2017 and competed in the Wimbledon singles main draw three times. Alongside her wife, Emina Bektas, her doubles career has taken off in the past 18 months, with Moore breaking into the top 100 and rising to her current ranking of 83, a career-high.
Moore and Bektas won their first-round match at the French Open last month before they were forced to withdraw from the tournament after the ITIA notified Moore of her positive test on 27 May.
