Emma Raducanu snuck into the main draw for the Australian Open this morning after American Lauren Davis pulled out with a shoulder injury.
The former US Open champion had faced the prospect of coming through qualifying in order to make the singles of the opening grand slam of the year following a near nine-month lay-off.
But the world No301 enters the main draw in Melbourne by virtue of her protected ranking of 103rd following Davis’ withdrawal. The Briton’s cause had previously been aided by injuries to Karolina Muchova, Camelia Begu and Caty McNally, as well as Petra Kvitova’s recent announcement she is pregnant.
Raducanu has not played at a Grand Slam since last year’s Australian Open where she lost in the second round to Coco Gauff.
She was victorious in her comeback match on Tuesday after triple surgery at the ASB Classic in Auckland, edging out a three-set marathon against close friend Elena-Gabriela Ruse.
She returns to court on Thursday with the far tougher obstacle of Elina Svitolina, a Wimbledon semi-finalist last year on her own return to the tour after becoming a mother.
Looking ahead to only her second match since mid-April, the ex-British No1 said: “It’s great I get to play Elina Svitolina because she has been at the top for so long in the game.
“She’s dominated, she’s obviously a great fighter and competitor. I’m looking forward to it. It’s a match where I have nothing to lose, I have everything to gain.”
Raducanu’s opening encounter in Auckland was something of a step into the unknown after operations on both wrists and one ankle, and having not played competitive tennis for so long.
She readily admitted the next unknown was how her body recovered from a match which lasted well over two hours. But the 21-year-old insisted she was in the shape of her life.
She's back!
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) January 2, 2024
A refreshed, revitalised and reformed Emma Raducanu returns to tennis with a WIN 🔥 pic.twitter.com/a5izk1ajra
“When you recover from injury, a challenge you may face is trusting your body and movement,” she said. “I actually feel fitter, quicker, stronger. I think I chased every drop shot she hit. I’ve done a lot of good physical work. I’m pretty pleased with how I feel and moved.”
A feature of Raducanu on tour prior to her fairytale win in New York in 2021 has been the problems with her ailing body before surgery.
Having come out the other side of that following lengthy rehabilitation work, she said: “It’s actually refreshing to be playing a match pain free.
“You’re always going to feel an element of discomfort. But injury-wise, I feel fine. That’s such a nice feeling to have instead of thinking on the court about three different things that hurt. I could just think about tennis. It’ll be interesting to see how I pull up.”
