Emma Raducanu’s slide down the tennis rankings was inevitable after she was forced to pull out of the entire North American swing of the WTA Tour, including the final Grand Slam of 2026 at the US Open.
The 2021 champion at Flushing Meadows will not be toasting that notable anniversary of her only career title in New York after the stress fracture in her foot sustained during her run to the final of the WTA 500 event at the Queen’s Club in June.
That injury forced her to pull out of Wimbledon and it was no surprise when she then confirmed she will not be returning to the scene of her greatest triumph later this month.
Now the inevitable rankings slide her enduring absence from the WTA Tour guarantees is underway, with the latest live rankings seeing the 23-year-old sliding down 10 places to No 59.
Raducanu’s absence from the WTA 1000 tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati will see ranking points drop off her total and she will also see the 130 points she gained rom a run to the third round at last year’s US Open erased from her total.
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That is likely to see her ranking slide to the mid-80s by the end of the US Open and that could mean she loses the British No 1 ranking to Katie Boulter.
Losing her status as the top player in Britain will be another side-effect of Raducanu’s latest injury and it will test her ambition to kick-start her career once again as she will be in danger of slipping out of the top 100 of the rankings unless she has a strong end to 2026.
That kind of slide would force her to play in lower-ranking events or enter qualifying to play in marquee events and she has shown a reluctance to do that in the past.
Speaking on Sky Sports Tennis, former British No 1 Annabel Croft expressed her concerns for Raducanu’s future as she suggested her physical issues could see her miss the rest of 2026.
“It feels as if she’s been unbelievably unlucky with the injury problems she’s faced throughout the course of her career. Don’t forget she’s had wrist surgery, feet problems, and now this stress fracture,” said Croft.
“There are so many injuries out there on the Tour, it seems like she never gets a clear run where she’s able to really go for it with her tennis, and her body, and her mind injury free.
“Just keep the momentum going because we’re all so excited with what she did at Queen’s Club, where she reached the final there just ahead of Wimbledon, where everyone is going ‘Wow’.
“She really ignited her tennis again and things were really starting to look up, but this is just a major setback. It’s a tournament that is so special to her, that’s where she’s had her greatest success, a former US Open champion, and I’ve seen lots of pictures of her posting the boot on her leg, trying to serve still, keeping her racket going.
“Showing everybody that she’s doing everything she can, but clearly it’s not healed up and you need to be fully fit to play these tournaments.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if she made that decision [to end her season now] and probably that wouldn’t be such a bad decision to take because you can fully heal, rest up, get as much treatment as possible, and then come out fully fit and raring to go at the start of next year.
“But the business side of tennis, I’m sure there’s a lot of enticing things coming her way down in Asia where she will want to play her best tennis there and she’ll be very much in demand.”
