Emma Raducanu will officially make her comeback at the start of 2024 after receiving a wildcard for the ASB Classic in Auckland. The tournament begins on January 1 as part of the build-up to the Australian Open.

The ASB Classic is a professional combined ATP and WTA tennis tournament organized in Auckland, New Zealand. It follows the Brisbane International, an event that is also a unique combination of both the WTA field and the ATP field of tennis players. More importantly, it preceeds the Australian Open.

WTA’s main draw will be played in the first week of 2024 (qualification rounds last 2 days of December).

The tournament will be for Raducanu first since April of this year. The Brit has been sidelined since undergoing three surgeries in the spring.

Raducanu began her 2023 season at Auckland, beating Linda Fruhvirtova in the first round before retiring injured from her last-16 encounter with Viktoria Kuzmova, leaving the court tearfully with an ankle injury.

She did appear at the subsequent 2023 Australian Open – losing to Coco Gauff in the second round – but she played just six further matches in the year before going under the knife.

Emma Raducanu is said to have made good progress training with LTA staff at the NTC over the past eight weeks, but she has still not firmed up the team that will accompany her on tour next year.

After more than half a year on the sidelines, Raducanu is currently allowed to compete using her protected ranking of No 103 which is significantly higher than her current standing of No 296 in the world.

Usually, No 103 would be high enough to make the cut-off for a Grand Slam main draw before qualifiers and wildcards come into the mix. But because so many players are using their own protected ranking to enter the Australian Open, the cut-off is unusually high at No 99 in the world.

Should she not receive a wild card, Raducanu will instead need to come through three rounds of qualifying, as she did so memorably to win the US Open in 2021.