Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open plans confirmed as special ranking gives her a much-needed boost
Emma Raducanu will look to draw inspiration from her 2021 US Open fairytale run at her next major appearance after it was confirmed that she will go through qualifying for the 2024 Australian Open.
Following an injury-ravaged 2023 tennis campaign that saw her slip to No 299 in the WTA Rankings, Raducanu has used her special ranking to enter the season-opening Grand Slam at Melbourne Park in January next year.
However, that special ranking of 103 was not good enough for a direct entry into the main draw of the Australian Open as it was five places below the cut-off mark.
But the good news for Raducanu is that she will be one of the seeds in the qualifying tournament with only Kamilla Rakhimova (99), Yafan Wang (100), Dayana Yastremska (102) and Tamara Zidansek (103) ahead of her special ranking of 103.
The 32 highest-ranked players in the field are seeded for the qualifying event and 16 places are up for grabs for the main draw of the hard-court major.
The last time Raducanu played in a qualifying event was at the US Open two years ago when she enjoyed one of the most remarkable runs not just in tennis, but in any sport.
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After winning her three qualifying matches, the 18-year-old went all the way at Flushing Meadows as she won seven main draw matches, beating Leylah Fernandez in the final, to become the first qualifier – man or woman – to win a Grand Slam and she did so without dropping a set in any of her 10 matches.
It set her on the way to stardom, but she struggled to replicate that success as growing pains and injuries have shunted her progress.
She played only 10 matches during the 2023 season with the last of those coming at the Stuttgart Open in April as she underwent surgery on both her wrists and her one ankle in May.
The 21-year-old’s first official event for the 2024 season has already been confirmed as she will be in the main draw of the Auckland Classic after accepting a wildcard.
That event will run from January 1-7 and she will then head to Melbourne for the Australian Open qualifying event, which gets underway on January 8.
The other Brits in the qualifying draw are Harriet Dart (121), Heather Watson (137) and Yuriko Miyazaki (170).
Former world No 5 and 2012 French Open runner-up Sara Errani is also on the qualifying list along with 37-year-old doubles great Hsieh Su-Wei and former top 20 players Alize Cornet and Kaia Kanepi.
