Emma Raducanu’s extraordinary story at Wimbledon came to an end after she was forced to retire from her match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. Having only played one WTA Tour-level match before this tournament, the teenage sensation has quickly become the story of the Championships.
But she was noticeably struggling to breathe having lost the opening set. She took a medical timeout after consulting with the trainer and doctor, where it was deemed she could not continue.
The reason for Raducanu’s retirement had been “difficulty breathing”. This was confirmed by Wimbledon late on Monday night. “I am actually shocked because Emma must be hurt if she came to the decision to retire,” Tomljanovic said on court. “I am really sorry for her, I wish we could have finished it. I am wishing her all the best. I thought I found my groove although Emma was hurt and not at her best which kind of explains it.”
Raducanu was sitting her A-Level exams two months ago and until a month ago she had not even contested a match on the main WTA Tour. 18-year-old Raducanu dumped out Vitalia Diatchenko, in a whirlwind of a few days. She also defeated the 2019 French Open runner-up Marketa Vondrousova and 45th-ranked Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
Raducanu, who is ranked 338 in the world, was cheered on by a boisterous crowd under the roof of Court One and she made a composed start to the match.
