Former US Open winner Emma Raducanu has failed to make the cut for the Australian Open, after missing out on the first round of wild cards offered for the tournament. The British tennis star had a long absence after undergoing surgery on both her wrists and an ankle this year.
Raducanu is returning to action as the 2024 tennis season starts and has accepted a wild card to play in the Auckland Classic. She will also be hoping that she gets an invitation for the Australian Open in the second tranche of wild cardsoffered that will take place right before the tournament starts on 14 January.
Tournament organizers will only award four wild cards on that occasion, though, and if the former British number one misses out on an automatic invitation again, she will have to enter the qualification round of the tournament.
Happy to Return to Auckland
Previous Australian Open champions Angelique Kerber, Naomi Osaka, and Caroline Wozniacki will all be able to participate in the 2024 Australian Open, as they are either on the tournament’s entry list or included in the initial batch of wild cards.
Unlike Emma Raducanu, former world number one Wozniacki got a wild card for the tournament, as she continues her comeback after taking a break from tennis for three years to start a family.
Raducanu’s return to Auckland will bring back bad memories, as the former No.10 on the WTA list rolled her ankle during the second-round match against Viktoria Kuzmova that was moved indoors because of rain. Raducanu played only one point after realizing she couldn’t continue and left the court in tears. She later complained about the “slick” indoor court surface, saying it was to blame for her injury.
Despite the short turnaround time, she successfully recovered from her ankle sprain to participate in the 2023 Australian Open. However, she lost to Coco Gauff in the second round of the tournament and was later plagued by wrist problems, resulting in early exits from the Miami Open and forcing her to withdraw from the Madrid Open. As a result, she dropped out of the top 100 and underwent surgery on her ankle and wrists.
Auckland tournament director Nicolas Lamperin was pleased that despite Raducanu’s unfortunate retirement from the tournament early this year, “she was really happy to come back.”
