Emma Raducanu’s season has gone from bad to worse throughout 2026, with the British star hitting a particular low over the summer months.
The star’s season was disrupted early on due to a foot injury and she missed further tournaments due to a viral illness throughout the Sunshine Double and the start of the clay court swing.
Her season looked to be turning around on the grass as she romped to the final of Queen’s, but another injury reared its ugly head for the British star.
She suffered a stress fracture at the event, which caused her to miss Wimbledon, and it will likely keep her out of the entirety of the North American hardcourt swing.
Raducanu’s tussles with injuries has been even more frustrating due to her performances on the court when she has been allowed to play.
The British star has reached two WTA Tour finals despite her injury issues, so she’s proved she can still cut it with the very best in the sport.
However, Andrew Castle has now predicted the star to cut her career short if she continues to suffer from the sort of injuries impacting her in 2026.
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“When she moves, when she plays, you can still see a really, truly, brilliant player there, so with a bit of luck, she will be back, and she wants to be back, because after a while, I would imagine it’s difficult to stay motivated,” he said in an interview with Betway.
“Well, put it this way. I mean, I’ve got no access to that camp whatsoever, but it wouldn’t surprise me if one day out of the blue, she just said, you know, ‘I’ve had enough of all this’. I mean, don’t we all say that?
“She doesn’t have an obligation to anybody but herself and her family. That’s it. There is nothing else. All the sponsors and everybody else, they’re not the ones whose career this is. It’s her choice, but I mean, I hope she carries on.”
Despite his worrying prediction, Castle would like nothing more than to see Raducanu back to her very best on the WTA Tour.
“I would love to see her have three or four years of freedom away from injury, and just to play tennis. “I mean, it would have been great if right at the beginning, she could have literally just picked up a racket and just gone and played a few Challengers, or whatever you want.
“It would have been great to have seen that, because she just went from sort of child to champion. I wouldn’t know, but I’ve seen it a million times in a lot of different scenarios, not just sport.
“That is hard to cope with, let alone the injuries. That level of attention, and of course, well, people would say, well, ‘She’s richly rewarded’, which she is. She’ll never have money worries again.
“So that’s a good thing, but it’s not all about that. I mean, beyond that, it’s now for her, about being as good as she can be.With the injuries that she’s had, can she now achieve that potential, which would be another Grand Slam for me still? We’ve all had our doubts about it, but what we say is unimportant. I hope she’s all right.”
It’s unclear when Raducanu will return to the WTA Tour, but she could be back for the Asian swing following the culmination of the US Open in September.
The star has Asian heritage and her main sponsor, Uniqlo, are based in Japan, so they will very likely want to see her play events in the country.
