Emma Raducanu, the 21-year-old Brit, has decided to withdraw from a December exhibition in China as she continues to recover from surgery. She hasn’t played since April after undergoing operations on her wrists and ankle, and her ranking has dropped to 289. Initially, she had hoped to return to the WTA Tour in the autumn, but then she set her sights on the exhibition Macau Tennis Masters event from December 2-3. However, due to her injury, the event’s organisers have confirmed that Raducanu will no longer be among the players on show.
Raducanu will be able to use a protected ranking of 103 next year, which could earn her a place in the main draw of the Australian Open in January. Since her victory at Flushing Meadows, she hasn’t gone past the second round of a Grand Slam. Despite this, she has been intensifying her training in recent weeks at the National Tennis Centre in London, both in the gym and on the court. In a recent interview with BBC Radio 4, she expressed how much she missed the sport and the training, highlighting her enthusiasm for returning to the circuit.
Raducanu is currently without a coach, having split from Sebastian Sachs in June. She is now working with Lawn Tennis Association staff. Her last match was a straight-sets defeat to Jelena Ostapenko at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in April.