Raducanu to resume competition at United Cup in Australia in first week of January 2027

Emma Raducanu will return to competitive tennis at the United Cup team event in Australia in the first week of January 2027, after being sidelined since June with a stress fracture of the shin. The 2021 US Open champion missed both Wimbledon and the US Open because of the injury.

Raducanu was beaten by Croatia’s Donna Vekic in her first grass-court final at Queen's Club on 14 June and then withdrew from Wimbledon on the eve of her opening match 14 days later. The 23-year-old had considered playing a couple of events in Asia this autumn but decided to delay her comeback until January so she can use a special ranking of 38 to enter tournaments.

A special ranking is available to players who have been out with injury for at least six months and, in Raducanu's case, reflects her position in the world rankings after Wimbledon because she received some prize money despite not playing a match there. Her actual ranking of 107 would likely be too low for direct entry into the Australian Open and most WTA Tour events, but the protected ranking will allow her to enter eight events next year, including two Grand Slams and five WTA 1000 tournaments.

With the special ranking of 38, Raducanu is assured of playing in Melbourne and can enter WTA 1000 events in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami in February and March. The entry deadline for the United Cup passed on Monday, shortly after Raducanu had her application for a special ranking approved, and that ranking makes her the British number one for the purposes of the event.

Raducanu will be part of a British team that includes Arthur Fery, Francesca Jones, Jan Choinski and doubles players Neal Skupski and Olivia Nicholls for the tournament running from 1-10 January. Britain will play Australia and France in their group matches in Sydney, where Raducanu can expect to face current top-40 players Talia Gibson and Diane Parry.

Raducanu made a gradual return to training in early September and recent practice sessions in London with head coach Andrew Richardson and LTA national coach Alex Ward have been increasing in intensity, according to observers. She may not play any exhibitions before the end of the year and a spell of warm-weather training is anticipated, with the Middle East a popular destination for players in the run-up to the Australian Open, but by the time she returns she will have been on the sidelines for over six months.

Playing a few tournaments in Asia would have helped her regain match sharpness, a route taken successfully by fellow Briton Sonay Kartal after a similar lay-off. Kartal returned from six months out with a stress fracture of the back in September, reached the third round of the China Open in her first WTA Tour event back, then beat world number six Elina Svitolina and world number 12 Belinda Bencic on her way to the Wuhan Open final. Kartal, the 25-year-old, said there were a "lot of conversations" about where she should make a return and added: "I think I wanted to just go straight in. I trusted that I would be able to get my level back, I just didn't know how quickly," and, "But I still think there is a long way to go. I can produce the level, but can I sustain it? "Rehab is draining, and the body is not used to a lot of matches on the tour, so I do feel the aches and the pains from that."

There will only be 24 candles on Raducanu’s birthday cake later this week, and she has missed substantial time since her New York victory as a teenage qualifier, averaging just 31 matches a season in the five years since that triumph. This year she played 21 matches, losing in the second round of the Australian Open and the first round at Roland Garros; last year she contested a career-best 50 matches and earlier this year rose to 23 in the rankings after reaching the final in Cluj.

Raducanu's early preparation this year was affected by bone bruising of the foot and she did not play for two months between March and May because of a post-viral illness picked up in Cluj. She said a stress fracture of the shin was only confirmed after a final scan on the night before Wimbledon, and that in her desperation to play she had continued to train at times in the run-up to the championships when medical advice had suggested that might be unwise. Raducanu has also said: "I don't fear for my safety from online abuse - because we're so used to it"

Raducanu's next confirmed competitive assignment is the United Cup in Sydney, where Britain play Australia and France in the group phase of the tournament from 1-10 January 2027.