Former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has asserted that Emma Raducanu “must be absolutely driven mad” by her ongoing struggles to stay healthy.
Raducanu has been sidelined due to a stress fracture in her right leg since losing to Donna Vekic in the Queen’s Club Championships final in June.
The 23-year-old pulled out of Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament before making the early decision to withdraw from the WTA 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati.
It has since emerged that Raducanu will not compete at the 2026 US Open, which will begin on Sunday 30 August.
The 2021 US Open winner, who is currently ranked 49th, has played only 21 matches in the 2026 season and holds an 11-10 record.
Speaking on his Off Court With Greg Rusedski podcast, Rusedski discussed Raducanu‘s situation at length.
“I remember Andy Roddick questioning when she said this year, ‘I wanna play less. I don’t want to play more’. And Roddick’s like… you’ve gotta play more. And this is from a former world No 1 who sees the game exceptionally well,” said the 1997 US Open finalist.
“I kind of agree with him. You’ve gotta be able to sustain and play and build and have that continuity. It’s been stop, start, stop, start. No matter how great a champion you are, it’s very difficult.
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“Unless you’re somebody like Novak Djokovic who’s done everything and just balancing out because he’s nearly 40-years-of-age, you need to play.
“Emma is still so, so young. So you’re like, okay, there should be at least another five years till you’re 30. So I think if she can solve that problem and find a way, who knows, but you’ve got to have that insatiable desire to want to.
“You need to find people to help you from a medical point of view, from a nutrition point of view, to try to get the balance. But maybe some people’s bodies just can’t take it on. I actually don’t know.
“If I’m frustrated talking about it, I’d hate to see what she’s like. She must be absolutely driven mad by the whole situation because she would have had these expectations.
“She would say, ‘I’ve won the US Open five years ago. Okay, I’m gonna get in the top ten,’ which she did very briefly. ‘I’m going to start winning tour titles at lower levels and build myself up.’
“And that was the philosophy when she was with Mark Petchey. Mark was like, ‘let’s forget about the US Open, let’s try to build up’. That relationship lasted a little bit of time, but he also does all his TV punditry, so he couldn’t be there full time.
“Then [Andrew Richardson] gets back in, which I’m like, ‘okay, great. The guy she won the US Open with.’ And then this injury happened after she made the Queen’s finals. It’s just one thing after another.”
The former world No 4 continued: “I don’t know what the solution is. I need to be behind the scenes to really know.
“Jane O’Donoghue, who is a great coach and helps run everything in there, so there are good people involved. They will be all trying to find a solution. Let’s do this, that, and the other.
“I just don’t know what the answer is, but I keep on saying the same thing about Jack Draper; I just want to see her healthy, being able to play a full schedule.
“If you’re an athlete, your health is your wealth. If you can’t stay healthy long enough, no matter how great a player you are, you just won’t have the results or career you want to have.”
