Emma Raducanu: Freak injury on slippery courts at ASB Classic difficult to take ahead of Australian Open

Emma Raducanu said her ankle injury ahead of the Australian Open is “difficult to take” and criticised “slippery” courts at the ASB Classic in Auckland.

She was in tears as she left the court with just 11 days until the Australian Open starts on January 16.

The match was being played on indoor courts because of rain outside, but the courts had not been resurfaced ahead of the tournament.

“It’s difficult to take,” Raducanu, who had several injury issues last year, told New Zealand website Stuff.

“I’ve put a lot of physical work in the last few months and I’ve been feeling good and optimistic.

“So to be stopped by a freak injury, rolling an ankle is pretty disappointing, in the first week as well. I thought I was playing some pretty decent tennis.

“The courts are incredibly slick, like very slippery, so to be honest it’s not a surprise that this happened to someone.

“It’s out of my control and after a very long day of waiting around. But we’ll assess over the next few days and see what the next steps are.”

She has been working with new interim coach Sebastian Sachs, but doesn’t know if she will be able to play the Australian Open.

“We’ll assess over the next few days and make a plan,” she said of her injury.

“But Auckland overall, it rained a lot this week, so I didn’t get to see much and I thought maybe certain aspects could have been organised better, but overall I had pleasant support when playing outdoors and the crowd made me feel really welcome and at home.”

Raducanu won the first set against Kuzmova 6-0 but appeared to hurt her ankle during the second set, which she lost 7-5. She received treatment ahead of the third set and then retired from the match.

Venus Williams also saw her match moved indoors.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion served for the win but lost 3-6 6-2 7-5 to Zhu Lin.

Speaking about the conditions, Williams said: “Outside it was really tough, it was rainy, windy. It was tennis, but it was more about surviving instead of playing great.

“Indoors it was completely different but I got to hit a lot of balls, so that’s important.”

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