Agnieszka Radwanska will be in a race against time to be fit for the French Open after she was forced to pull out of both Madrid and Rome to try and recover from a lingering foot injury.
The Polish world No8 has not missed a grand slam since making her main draw debut at Wimbledon in 2006, competing in 43 consecutive majors, and she shudders at the thought of potentially missing Roland Garros – which starts in three weeks – because of her injury.
Radwanska was unspecific regarding the nature of her injury but says she can feel it even when she’s just walking.
“I’ve been struggling with my foot already for a couple of weeks – actually months, but now it’s getting worse again and clay is not helping,” the 28-year-old told reporters in Madrid on Friday following the announcement of her withdrawal from the tournament.
“Of course I did everything I could to come here and play but unfortunately I’d rather take care of that 100 per cent to try and come back in Paris with all form.
“It’s pretty much overuse, there’s a big inflammation going on. I just need a rest and I didn’t have that rest.
“It started last year but then it was off and then it came back again. It’s not getting any better, so I just want to make sure I can have a chance to be really 100 per cent prepared for the French Open.”
Radwanska took part in the Tie Break Tens charity exhibition event at the Caja Magica on Thursday in the Spanish capital, where she won her first tiebreak against Garbine Muguruza before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Asked if her participation in the event aggravated her injury, Radwanska said: “It was just seven minutes maybe on court, twice, so that’s not a big deal, it’s worse when you play a little bit longer.”
Radwanska will now skip Rome as well as she works on recovering back home in Krakow, with the goal to be healthy by the French Open in three weeks’ time.
“Hopefully it’s going to be fine. For me, I haven’t missed a slam for the last 10 years, so for me it’s even hard to think that I’m going to miss that, so at the moment I’m really preparing that I’m going to play and I’m going to be able to play but of course you cannot predict anything,” said Radwanska, who has never made it past the quarter-finals at Roland Garros.
