British number one Emma Raducanu has announced that she will miss the upcoming French Open and Wimbledon tournaments due to surgery on her hands and ankle.
The 2021 US Open champion has been plagued by a spate of injury problems during the embryonic stages of her career, including a persistent wrist issue in 2023.
Raducanu withdrew from the ongoing Madrid Open just a few hours before her first-round match, prior to which she suffered a heavy Stuttgart defeat to Jelena Ostapenko.
Raducanu - who missed Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers due to her clay court commitments - was facing a race against time to be fit for Roland Garros, which begins on May 29.
However, the 20-year-old has now revealed that she has already gone under the knife to address a recurring problem in her hands, and she will also have a procedure done on her ankle imminently.
As a result, Raducanu will play no part in the summer tournaments, also ruling her out of home competitions such as Nottingham, Eastbourne and Birmingham prior to Wimbledon.
The Briton's participation in the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open Masters 1000 events is also up in the air, while the US Open is scheduled to begin on August 28.
♥️ pt1 pic.twitter.com/sS7Url5j0p
— Emma Raducanu (@EmmaRaducanu) May 3, 2023
Sharing a photo of her lying in a hospital bed with her right hand in a bandage, Raducanu wrote on Twitter:"It is safe to say the last 10 months have been difficult as I dealt with a recurring injury on a bone of both hands.
"I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it for most of this year and end of last year by reducing practice load dramatically, missing weeks of training as well as cutting last season short to try to heal it, unfortunately it's not enough.
"I'm having a minor procedure done on both hands to resolve the issues. I'm disappointed to share that I will be out for the next few months and while I am at it will have another minor procedure that is due on my ankle.
"It pains me that I will miss the summer events and I tried to downplay the issues so I thank all my fans who continued to support me when you did not know the facts. Looking forward to seeing you all back out there."
Raducanu is currently ranked 85th in the world - 25 places higher than British number two Jodie Burrage - but she will plummet down the standings as she spends the next few months rehabilitating.
The 20-year-old - who ended her 2022 campaign in October - has only competed in five WTA tournaments during the 2023 season so far, most notably reaching the last 16 of the Indian Wells Masters before being knocked out by Iga Swiatek.
Raducanu was eliminated in the second round of the 2023 Australian Open by Coco Gauff and fell at the same hurdle to Belarus' Aliaksandra Sasnovich in her French Open debut last year.
Ben Knapton
