Emma Raducanu is set to make her competitive return to tennis at the United Cup in January after being confirmed on the Great Britain team. The former British number one, currently ranked fifth, has also successfully applied for a special ranking available to players sidelined for six months due to injury.
Raducanu, who turns 24 on Thursday, has not played since losing the Queen's final to Donna Vekic in mid-June. The 2021 US Open champion withdrew from Wimbledon a fortnight later, on the eve of the championships, with a stress fracture of the shin.
United Cup debut and first opponents
Six months on from that point is December, and the United Cup starts in early January, with Great Britain scheduled to play France on the second day of 2027. Raducanu joins Arthur Fery, Francesca Jones and Jan Choinski on the team, as well as doubles specialists Neal Skupski and Olivia Nicholls.
The current world No. 107, whose special ranking is 38, is scheduled to play Diane Parry in the tournament's first match before beginning the following day's night session by facing Talia Gibson when GB take on Australia a day later. Parry is ranked 34th in the world and beat Amanda Anisimova at the French Open to become the country's top-ranked player in June, while Gibson is No. 36 in the world and reached the final of the WTA 500 Singapore Open this autumn.
Special ranking benefits and season overview
Being able to use a special ranking means Raducanu will be assured of a place at the Australian Open in January and at one other Grand Slam next year, as well as five other WTA 1000 tournaments, with events in Doha, Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami first up during February and March. She played in all but one of those this year, withdrawing from the latter because of illness.
Raducanu did not play for another two months before returning at the WTA Internationaux de Strasbourg ahead of the French Open, her second and final Grand Slam of the year after missing Wimbledon and then the US Open. A year on from playing a career-best 50 matches in 2025, she has managed just 21 this year, almost half of which came from her runs to the finals of Queen's and the Transylvania Open in Romania, losing the latter as top seed to reigning champion Sorana Cirstea.
