Emma Raducanu's qualifying spot confirmed ahead of 2024 Australian Open...barring late withdrawals

With the qualifying lists now confirmed for the 2024 Australian Open, Emma Raducanu is set to play in the pre-cursor to the main draw to attempt to seal her spot alongside Dominic Thiem as the former Grand Slam winners in the Men's and Women's.

The former US Open champion who struggled with injuries last season and whose ranking plummeted to World No.299 didn't have a high enough ranking after losing last in Stuttgart to Jelena Ostapenko to come back with a protected ranking like Naomi Osaka and Angelique Kerber.

So instead will have to fight through qualifying akin to her incredible triumph back in 2021 when she famously became the first player to win from qualifying in the Open Era. But as has been the narrative throughout this, Raducanu would need only a few players to withdraw late on to not even go through this route. As of now though, she has not escaped qualifying and is slated to play in Melbourne.

The qualifying tournament for the Australian Open will take place on January 8, which in itself gives Raducanu minimal time in between if she goes far in the ASB Classic in Auckland. But her likely knowing of her qualifying fate would've likely discerned her from entering further tournaments ahead of the Australian Open such as Brisbane and Adelaide in the weeks prior.

Also she is currently undergoing the latest aspect of her coaching carousel with Nick Cavaday, her former LTA coach stepping in and could yet travel to Australia with her. It is a back to basics move for the Brit who since dumping Andrew Richardson post US Open has had many high profile coaches amid all of her injury struggles. These have included Dmitry Tursunov, Sebastian Sachs and Torben Beltz. But attempting to stay out of spotlight and scrutiny, Raducanu seemingly has shunned a big name and will attempt to fight her way back starting in Auckland and for now qualifying.