Emma Raducanu to make comeback to tennis at Auckland Open in January after injury troubles ahead of Australian Open
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Published 07/12/2023 at 09:23 GMT
After eight months on the sidelines, Emma Raducanu will finally make it back onto a competitive tennis court at the Auckland Open. The Brit has been on a lengthy rehabilitation period to fix a number of injury issues, but it seems there is light at the end of the tunnel for the 2021 US Open champion. Watch and stream the 2024 Australian Open live on Eurosport and discovery+.
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Emma Raducanu is set to make her long-awaited comeback to tennis at the Auckland Open in January, as she endeavours to put her injury troubles behind her.
The 21-year-old, who last played at the Stuttgart Open in April, underwent surgery in May on both hands and her ankle in a bid to cure the issues she had been contending with.
And now her recovery appears complete as she has been awarded a wild card for the WTA 250 event in New Zealand, running from January 1-7.
Dependent on how her comeback progresses, Raducanu will likely then be eyeing a spot at the first major of the year, the 2024 Australian Open, live on Eurosport and discovery+.
However, that is no formality as the Brit - though using her protected ranking of 103 to enter the Melbourne showpiece - is still not high enough to make the cut, so could be reliant on other players withdrawing, or earning a wild card.
Should she not receive the latter, Raducanu will instead need to come through three rounds of qualifying, as she did so memorably to win the US Open in 2021.
Raducanu began her 2023 season at Auckland, beating Linda Fruhvirtova in the first round before retiring injured from her last-16 encounter with Viktoria Kuzmova, leaving the court tearfully with an ankle injury.
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Emma Raducanu of Great Britain is in tears as she withdraws injured during her singles match against Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia on day four of the 2023 ASB Classic Women's at the ASB Tennis Arena on January 05, 2023 in Auckland, New Zealand.
Image credit: Getty Images
She did appear at the subsequent 2023 Australian Open - losing to Coco Gauff in the second round - but she played just six further matches in the year before going under the knife.
The 21-year-old is among a star-studded line-up in Auckland, with the likes of Caroline Wozniacki and Gauff also in the draw.
On the men's side, Britain's Cameron Norrie, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Ben Shelton are among those set to feature.
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