Emma Raducanu left pundits puzzled as she called the physio to court while 6-5 up in the first set of her match against Magda Linette but refused a medical time out. The British No 1 had been in doubt to even play in Indian Wells but is now in battle in the second round where she requested to take a tablet but turned down the offer of full treatment.
Raducanu is facing Linette for the second time, already holding a 1-0 record over the world No 21. The Brit went a break down early on in their Indian Wells second-round clash but managed to break the 20th seed twice to find herself serving for the opening set at 6-5.
But as she sat down for the change of ends after breaking Linette for the second time, the 20-year-old decided to call the physio. It comes as Raducanu is still recovering from tonsillitis – which forced her out of last week’s ATX Open – and has also been dealing with wrist problems, as both had been seen taped up in practice on Wednesday.
“It looks as if the trainer has come out for Raducanu,” Annabel Croft said on Prime Video as the world No 77 sat down during the changeover. But Raducanu’s decision caused some confusion when it first looked like her wrist was being rubbed before she decided to take a tablet instead and refused a medical time out.
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The chair umpire could be heard asking how much time the Brit needed before Raducanu was seen shaking her head, appearing to turn down a full three-minute medical time out. “It seems like she may be taking a painkiller there so it is clearly a little bit bothering her at the moment,” Croft continued.
Fellow retired British pro Laura Robson tried to explain Raducanu’s decision to deny a medical time out, adding: ” She doesn’t want to take the medical. I mean there’s really not much you can do for a wrist in the space of three minutes so it’s a bit of a waste to take a medical there but maybe if she can get some extra taping to support it.”
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Raducanu then returned to the baseline to serve for the first set but was broken to love as she appeared to be struggling with her wrists. But the former world No 10 was quick to bounce back as she dominated in the tiebreak, eventually taking the opener 7-6(3).
But the wrist issue still seemed to be hanging around after the first set as Croft said Raducanu had been holding her ice towel to it, having pulled down her sweatbands to reveal strapping. “If you just notice there, the wrist is now taped, it’s underneath that wristband but she’s also just had an ice pack underneath that towel at the change of ends,” she explained.
“So not only the ice pack around her neck, she’s had one around her wrist as well. But it didn’t seem to bother her too much in that first set and it was just extraordinary to witness the capitulation of Magda Linette’s tennis down the other end.”
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