Emma Raducanu, winner of the 2021 US Open, may be forced to further delay her long-awaited return to competitive tennis, after her ranking was too low to earn her a place in the main draw for January’s Australian Open.
Raducanu’s last match came way back in April, when she was beaten comprehensively by Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart, and she has since been forced to undergo surgery on both wrists and an ankle in a bid to rid herself of the injuries which have blighted her career since winning a Grand Slam at the tender age of 18.
Raducanu, now 21, has plummeted from number 10 in the world, and now languishes at 296, as Britain’s ninth ranked woman.
She had hoped a protected ranking of 103 would be enough to secure her a spot in the main draw, but the final slot will currently go to the 98th ranked player. That will mean Raducanu must either rely on five higher ranked players withdrawing, or on the organisers giving her a wildcard if she is to find her way into the tournament without having to play three qualifying round matches.
Certainly the likelihood of having to head to the qualifiers increased after Raducanu’s name was missing from the first batch of wildcards announced for the first Grand Slam of 2024.
While former world number one Caroline Wozniacki was handed a spot alongside a trio of Australians, Raducanu must either target another tournament to return at or look to repeat the record breaking run which took her through qualifying at Flushing Meadows just over two years ago.
Considering the daunting task ahead of Raducanu, a look at the odds from leading bookmakers tells us they aren’t taking any chances of lightning striking twice. Raducanu’s odds of winning the entire tournament range from just 33/1 to a still relatively modest 100/1, which puts her on a par with the likes of Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka.
Surely Raducanu would snap off the hands of anyone offering her a return to the levels of such players, as she aims to silence the critics who have labelled her a one hit wonder.
