BBC Sport reported that Raducanu had withdrawn because of a leg injury. The Guardian reported that a niggle had developed into a stress fracture, that she had been due to face Antonia Ruzic at 1pm on Monday, and that the problem worsened after her run to the Queen's Club final.
Those details change the scale of the absence. This was not a distant entry-list adjustment or a player withdrawing before the draw had shape. It was the removal of a seeded British player from a named court, named opponent and settled first-round slot on the eve of the tournament.
For Wimbledon, the immediate effect is practical. The draw must absorb a replacement, the court schedule loses a high-profile home match, and British interest spreads across the remaining singles entrants rather than concentrating on Raducanu's section. That does not recast the women's title race, which still turns on the top seeds, grass-court form and fitness across the field. It does alter the domestic texture of the opening days.
The Queen's Club context matters because it had made Raducanu's grass season feel more substantial than a routine wildcard narrative. A run to a final suggested match rhythm and surface confidence before Wimbledon. The injury report now cuts across that preparation, turning a promising lead-in into a medical stop.