Former British No. 1 Emma Raducanu has not played since April but as she prepares to make a comeback next year and she may face the reigning champion in her first match.
Emma Raducanu is set to make her tennis comeback in January but could face a tough test straight away. With Coco Gauff now signed up to the same tournament in which she’ll make her comeback, she could face one of the world’s most in-form players in her first game back.
Former US Open champion Raducanu struggled with a wrist injury early this year and has not played since April. In May, the 21-year-old ended her season after undergoing surgery on her ankle and both wrists.
She has since been working hard to return to full fitness. After months of speculation, it has been confirmed that Raducanu will make her return at the Auckland Open which commences on New Year’s Day.
This will mark her second appearance at the New Zealand-based tournament, and there is a chance she will begin her campaign against fellow US Open winner Gauff in what would be an extremely tough first match back.The reigning champion at Flushing Meadows won the first of her four titles in 2023 at the ASB Classic and will return to try and defend her title.
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, a Grand Slam semi-finalist and Olympic bronze medalist, is also set to compete in the event before the Australian Open, the first major of the year. Raducanu and Gauff have only competed once before, which was in the second round at Melbourne Park back in January.
The American claimed a 6-3, 7-6(4) win and she went on to have a stellar 2023, that finished with a Grand Slam title and a career-high ranking of No. 3. Raducanu has found it difficult both on and off the court since becoming a superstar overnight after her 2021 US Open victory.
She has not reached a final since defeating Leylah Fernandez to claim the title in New York and after achieving a career-high ranking of No. 10, she has now plummeted to 296. While many challenges lie ahead once she returns to action, former tennis player Laura Robson has every faith that the Bromley local can rediscover her best tennis.
“We know she has got the game to do it. She has the ball striking ability, she is a great mover and a great all-round player and she competes,” Robson told Tennis365 at a Play Your Way To Wimbledon event. “All you can do is stay as healthy as possible and try to play as many matches as possible to see where you go.
“Other players have come back very quickly in this last year. Svtolina has been amazing to watch and then Wozniacki has looked amazing considering she has not played in three and a half years. There are lots of players for Emma to look up to as examples of how quickly it can come back and not to get too disheartened if it doesn’t because everyone is on their own journey.” Though she is now ranked just inside the world’s top 300, Raducanu is allowed to use a protected ranking of 103.
This was her position following the conclusion of the Madrid Open, her last tournament. However, she has missed out on the initial group of Australian Open wildcards due to her ranking, and if she does not receive one, she will have to go through the qualifying rounds. But as tennis fans remember, the last time Raducanu qualified for a Grand Slam, she stormed to the title without dropping a set. Furthermore, she made history by becoming the first player to win a major after coming through the qualifying rounds.
