Raducanu to miss 'the next few months' after ankle and hand surgeries

Emma Raducanu will be sidelined for "a few months" after undergoing minor surgical procedures on her ankle and hands.

The 2021 US Open champion announced the news in a hand-written statement posted to her social media on Wednesday that accompanied a photo of her in a hospital bed. Raducanu said she'd been trying to play through what she called "a recurring injury on the bone of both hands" since last year, and will also undergo a procedure on an ankle injury in the interim. 

"It's safe to say that the last 10 months have been difficult," she wrote in part. "I tried my best to manage the pain and play through it for most of this year and end of last year by reducing practice load dramatically, missing weeks of training as well as cutting last season short to try [to] heal it. Unfortunately, it’s not enough."

Raducanu is 5-5 so far this season, and was forced to withdraw from this week's Mutua Madrid Open as a consequence of her hand issues. Earlier in the year, she suffered an ankle injury at the ASB Classic in Auckland, was forced to withdraw from Austin in February due to tonsillitis, and struggled with a wrist injury during the Sunshine Double. 

"It pains me that I will miss the summer events and I tried to downplay the issues so I thank all my fans who continued to support me when you did not know the facts," she wrote. "Looking forward to seeing you all back out there."