Emma Raducanu will make her long-awaited return to tennis in Auckland next month… with British star trying to put injury hell behind her having not played since April
- Emma Raducanu has finalised the tournament where she will return to tennis
- Coco Gauff and Caroline Wozniacki will also play in the Auckland tournament
- MATCH POINT: Mail Sport reviews the highs and lows of a frustrating season
Emma Raducanu will make her return to topline tennis at the dawn of the New Year in Auckland.
The former US Open champion will play at the ASB Classic in New Zealand alongside Coco Gauff and former Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki at what is a relatively lowly 250-level event on the main WTA Tour.
Auckland has a history of attracting decent names due to a sizeable appearance fee budget, and has hosted Serena Williams in the recent past.
Raducanu is waiting to hear if she will be awarded a wildcard for the Australian Open main draw, which starts on January 14.
She is six places away from making the main draw at present with her injury-protected entry ranking of 103 high above her current official listing of 296.
Emma Raducanu’s return to action has now been agreed as she looks to climb the rankings
Raducanu posted pictures after she underwent wrist surgery to combat her injury issues
If she was given one of the remaining privileged spots it would mean she would avoid attempting to qualify in the second week of January for Melbourne and open up options to get more matchplay elsewhere. These would include playing WTA tournaments in Adelaide or Hobart.
The player has been in Hong Kong in the past week but is expected to continue her preparations at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton.
She has not played since April in Stuttgart, after which she underwent minor surgery on both wrists and her ankle.
Her situation in making the field in Melbourne has been complicated by an unusually high number of players seeking to make their comebacks using the system of injury-protected rankings. These include Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka among the anticipated list of returning stars.
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