2023 hasn’t been a good year for Emma Raducanu. The young British star hasn’t played a game since last April when she stopped playing to undergo surgery on her wrists and ankle in May.
After a long period trying to fully recover to come back to the courts, Raducanu has had to postpone her return and won’t be featuring at the two-day exhibition event, on December 2 and 3, in Macau, where she was expected to compete alongside Daria Kasatkina and Wang Xinyu.
While many fans hoped to see the young talent back in action in the last month of the year, they are now left with more uncertainty surrounding Raducanu’s recovery.
Will Raducanu play in the Australian Open?
While the calendar is about to come to a close, many players have already taken a break from tennis to spend time with their friends and families and to start preparing for the new season.
While it may seem that the new campaign is far away, the truth is that in only a few weeks the players will have to be ready to face another long season full of trips and tournaments.
In the case of the 21-year-old player, the time is ticking and she may end up seeing herself in a race against the clock to be able to feature in the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2023-24 term.
While she had been posting training videos on social media, anticipating a probable return to competition, reality has surprised her once again, and unless things change dramatically, it doesn’t look like she will be ready to play this year.
https://x.com/EmmaRaducanu/status/1718303245230076264?s=20
As things stand, Raducanu’s comeback is in the air right now, with no specific date expected. The current world No. 289 is not signed up to play for Great Britain at the United Cup, the first tournament of the new season.
Instead, she could take part in the Brisbane International or the ASB Classic in Auckland, which start on January 1, but there isn’t any certainty on that either.
In the second week of January, there’s more tennis action, and that could serve her as preparation for the Australian Open, with the Adelaide International and Hobart International.
While she won’t be considered among the favorites to lift the trophy in Melbourne in the event of being 100% fit to feature in the Australian Open, it will be great news for tennis if she finally manages to compete in the tournament against the very best again.
