Emma Raducanu‘s much-anticipated return to tennis will happen in the opening week of January, when she will play the 2024 Auckland Open in New Zealand.
Raducanu’s comeback has been a story of intense speculation in recent weeks, but she has accepted a wild card at the 2024 ASB Classic, which will commence on New Year’s Day. She is part of a gaudy list of WTA stars at the event, which features Grand Slam winner Coco Gauff and Caroline Wozniacki.
Having last played a WTA match in April 2023 (in Stuttgart), the British tennis star underwent double surgery on both wrists and her ankle and gave up hope of playing in the second half of last season despite working hard round the clock to attain match sharpness.
Raducanu began light training after coming out of rehab before increasing the intensity of her practices at the National Tennis Centre in London, where her training base was situated.
She has also been to her mother’s homeland in China and was recently in Hong Kong, where she suffered a sore palm during a late-night practice. Raducanu’s withdrawal from the Macau exhibition this month raised doubts about her participation in the Australian summer series.
The 21-year-old’s previous trip to New Zealand was in 2023, where she played the ASB Classic and was sadly forced to retire in her second-round match due to an ankle injury. She now intends to utilize her spot at the 2024 edition to prepare for the Australian Open, which begins on January 14.
Raducanu is currently out of the main draw picture in Melbourne unless she can be offered a wild card. She has experienced massive rankings fall due to her absence from the tour (she will start the new season ranked 296th). However, Raducanu can only use her Special Ranking of No. 103 to play in the qualifying round.
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