Emma Raducanu is yet to declare herself fit for Wimbledon after cutting short a training session on Saturday, as the British No 1 battles an injury niggle just hours before her opening match. The 30th seed, scheduled to face Antonia Ruzic on Court No 1 on Monday, has been wearing strapping around her lower right leg and was spotted earlier this week in a protective boot. She lost the opening four games of Saturday’s practice against Anna Kalinskaya before stopping. “I'm going to do everything with my team in terms of treatment,” Raducanu said after managing a session on Sunday. “That's the plan right now, to play.” She added: “I think there are certain tournaments you're willing to do more for, put yourself on the line more for, risk more for. For me, of course, Wimbledon is that.”
But the headlines at SW19 are not only about home hopes. Serena Williams, 44, will make her first singles appearance in four years on Tuesday after accepting a wildcard – and the seven‑time champion has drawn praise from Novak Djokovic, who called her comeback “inspirational” and “epic”. “I see her in the gym more than I have, I think, seen her when she was at her prime,” Djokovic revealed. “It tells me that she really wants this to work out the best way possible.”
“Emma Raducanu fights injury ahead of Wimbledon while Serena Williams prepares for first singles match in four years.”
Andre Agassi told SunSport the return is “a win for tennis”, adding: “It looks like she's been doing a lot of hard work, she looks in great shape. … It doesn't surprise me that she's putting herself out there and taking on this ambitious challenge at this stage of her life.”
Genie Bouchard, the 2014 finalist now working as a BBC pundit, went further, suggesting Williams could even win the tournament – but warned that playing no warm‑up singles match before the biggest event in tennis was risky. “It's insane. It's crazy that she's going to go play her first singles match in four years at Wimbledon without any warm‑up match,” Bouchard said. “Now I feel like there's a lot of pressure … Of course she has a chance, of course she's competitive. She's Serena Williams.”
Williams, who last played singles at the 2022 US Open, will face Australia’s Maya Joint on Centre Court on Tuesday. Her path back began last October when she re‑entered the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s anti‑doping testing pool – rules she has since described as “grueling”, “unprofessional” and “unreasonable”. Whether the 23‑time grand slam champion can add to her haul at 44 remains the most compelling question of this fortnight.