Emma Raducanu and Rafael Nadal on long list of top stars to miss Wimbledon

While Novak Djokovic continues to chase more history at Wimbledon and Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina try to fight off the rest of the pack, several top tennis stars will be absent from SW19 this year. Emma Raducanu and Rafael Nadal are among the most notable. The home favourite underwent three surgeries last month while the Spaniard is sidelined with an injury. Express Sport looks at all the big names missing Wimbledon this year.

Emma Raducanu

Two years after she made her Grand Slam debut at SW19 as a wildcard, Raducanu has already experienced the highs and lows of the game at just 20 years old. In 2021 she reached the fourth round as the world No 338 shortly after completing her A Levels and weeks later she became the first qualifier to win a Major at the US Open. But she has struggled with wrist injuries since last summer and operated on both – plus her ankle – last month so will be sidelined for the foreseeable future.

Rafael Nadal

This time last year, Nadal came into Wimbledon having won the first two Majors of 2022. But he injured his abdomen and barely played for the rest of the season. Returning in Australia, he picked up a psoas injury and hasn’t played since. Nadal underwent arthroscopic surgery at the start of June and previously admitted that 2024 will likely be his last season before he retires.

Naomi Osaka

The four-time Major champion hasn’t played a match since September and hasn’t appeared at Wimbledon since 2019 when she was No 2 in the world. At the start of the year, Osaka announced that she was pregnant but intended to make a comeback at next year’s Australian Open. She recently revealed that she and her partner Cordae will be having a girl.

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Angelique Kerber

A former champion at the All England Club back in 2018, Kerber is another player who has been sidelined by pregnancy and motherhood. The former world No 1 announced her pregnancy last summer and gave birth to a girl in February of this year. She recently appeared at the Bad Homburg Open to play some doubles with now-retired Andrea Petkovic and reaffirmed her intentions to return in Australia in January.

Garbine Muguruza

Another former world No 1 and former Wimbledon champion – in 2017 – Muguruza announced that she would be taking several months away from the sport at the start of the year. The Spaniard played her most recent match in January and hasn’t earned a victory since September. “Spending time with family and friends and it’s really been healthy and amazing. So I am going to lengthen this period till summer, therefore I am going to miss clay and grass season,” she wrote on Instagram in April.

Marin Cilic

The finalist in 2018 and a Grand Slam champion at the 2014 US Open, Cilic has been struggling with a knee injury that he picked up in the first week of the season. He initially hoped to return on the grass but confirmed his withdrawal from Wimbledon earlier this week and said: “Things have generally been going well the last few weeks with my post-surgery training so I’m staying positive and focused on my long-term recovery. I hope that I’ll be competing very soon.”

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Simona Halep

Halep won her second Major title at Wimbledon in 2019 but has been provisionally suspended since October after testing positive for the banned substance Roxadustat, a drug which helps increase the production of red blood cells. The Romanian has continued to profess her innocence and previously said she found the source of contamination but accused the International Tennis Integrity Agency of pushing her hearings back.

According to DigiSport Romania, Halep had her first hearing in London earlier this week where she presented her evidence and she is expected to be given the first verdict in two weeks. If she receives a lengthy suspension, she will be able to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Amanda Anisimova

After an early loss in Madrid last month, the 21-year-old announced that she would be taking an indefinite break from tennis for her mental health. She enjoyed a breakthrough at the 2019 French Open aged just 17, defeating reigning champion Simona Halep en route to the semi-final. But Anisimova recently said that it had become “unbearable” being at tournaments as she steps back from competition.

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