Emma Raducanu faces against race against time to be fit for ‘huge’ event

Emma Raducanu faces a race against time to be fit for the upcoming Indian Wells Masters, which starts on Monday, March 7th, in California. 

The US Open champion has been plagued with injury problems of late. At the Australian Open, she suffered blisters on her hand, which heavily contributed to her second-round loss to Danka Kovinic. 

Prior to that, the teenager’s start to the season had been disrupted by a bout of Covid-19, that prevented her from being able to train ahead of the first major of the year. 

And in her most recent event, the Brit sustained a hip injury at the Guadalajara Open –– forcing her to retire from her first-round match against Daria Saville. 

Raducanu was scheduled to play in Monterrey this week, but pulled out of the tournament, having failed to recover in time. 

With just a week to go until Indian Wells gets underway, Raducanu now has a matter of days to decide whether she is fit to play, or if her frustrating start to 2022 will continue 

Indian Wells is considered one of the most prestigious on the tennis calendar, outside of the four Grand Slams, and features the second largest permanent tennis stadium in the world. 

The reigning champion is Spain’s Paula Badosa, who beat Victoria Azarenka in last year’s final.

Raducanu lost her opening match in California last time out, after losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in straight sets and has won just three matches on tour since then. 

Despite her lack of consistency of late, there is every chance the British number one could rise into the world’s top 10 in the near future. 

Because this is her first full season on the WTA tour, Raducanu has almost no ranking points to defend until Wimbledon and will therefore continue to ascend through the rankings with