2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open status currently remains unclear, but nonetheless the 21-year-old will make her competitive comeback in Auckland to kick off 2024 after undergoing double surgery in May. American talent Amanda Anisimova hasn’t featured since Madrid clay in late April, and is also on the entry list for the WTA 250 event starting Jan. 1.
After long recovery, 2021 US Open champ raring to return
- Emma Raducanu went 5-5 in competitive play this past season, before May surgery saw her spend the rest of calendar year recovering
- Anisimova, a year older than Raducanu at 22, burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old and reached the French Open semifinals two years later – but despite flashes, hasn’t yet been consistent enough since then on tour
- Both set to make their return – Anisimova after an indefinite mental health break – with Wimbledon semifinalist Elina Svitolina as well as last year’s finalist Rebeka Masarova among those on the entry list at present
It wasn’t a happy first tournament appearance the first time around for Emma Raducanu, but the 2021 US Open champion will hope for a more successful sophomore appearance when she features in New Zealand again next month.
Having recovered from a set down to topple highly-rated Czech teenager Linda Fruhvirtova in round one, she appeared locked into another three-set battle – this time indoors after adverse weather conditions – against Slovakia’s Viktoria Hruncakova, before she tearfully retired with an ankle issue at one set apiece.
She publicly hailed the work of her team in getting her physically ready for the forthcoming Australian Open, despite going into that Major with a lingering knock and limited court practice time, and beat Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch in straight-sets before a competitive defeat against Coco Gauff two days later.
That whole sequence rather typified what was another frustrating year on tour for the 21-year-old, who could only play three more tournaments the rest of the season.
Scheduled to return at an exhibition event in Macau last weekend, the Brit withdrew to instead focus on being fit and ready for the maiden Major of a new year given her injury struggles. That first tournament back represents familiar territory in Auckland:
Auckland tournament director Nicolas Lamperin on the Raducanu announcement:
“She was obviously in no rush, wanted to make sure she was fully healthy and ready – loves this time of year – had fun in New Zealand and despite retiring, was happy to come back.”
What about her Australian Open status?
To avoid three qualifying rounds at Melbourne Park, Raducanu will need half-a-dozen player withdrawals after failing to make the main draw cut.
That’s part of the risk players have to juggle when injured or inactive, as your ranking doesn’t freeze and others rise in your absence.
An injury-protected ranking of world no. 103, as opposed to her live ranking at #298 doesn’t provide main draw entrance from the #99 cut.
Direct entry is granted for 104 players before qualifying and wildcards are accounted for in the final 128-player draw across both tours, but eight competitors with ranking protections are ahead of Raducanu on the aforementioned entry list.
Hence the half-dozen withdrawals between now and January 8, when qualifying for the competition begins. The tournament proper starts a day earlier this year, as I reported in mid-October, on January 14. At the time of writing, she’s the sixth alternate for the Australian Open main draw, behind the following five players:
Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic [99]
Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova [100]
Yafan Wang, China [101]
Julia Grabher, Austria [102]
Tamara Zidansek, who gave Jabeur a scare in Melbourne this past year [103]
For all of the debate over her perceived star power with increased media attention, Raducanu has lost in round two across consecutive seasons at the year’s first Major.
Anisimova by contrast has twice made round four – on debut in 2019 and again three seasons later, beating Olympic champion Belinda Bencic and four-time Slam titlist Naomi Osaka before eventual winner Ashleigh Barty pipped her in the last-16.
The American will hope to get some solid match play under her belt quickly before the Grand Slam begins, much like Raducanu in a draw packed with deceptively difficult names – from Svitolina and Caroline Wozniacki to Yulia Putintseva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova when fully fit. That’s just the unseeded section.
Picture source: Getty Images
Mo and Sports 