Emma Raducanu has been awarded a Wimbledon main draw wild card along with Naomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki.
The 21-year-old, whose 2024 playing schedule has been sporadic having also skipped the French Open in order to prepare for the grass-court season, lost out to British No 1 Katie Boulter in the semi-finals of the Nottingham Open last week.
Raducanu is taking small steps on her road to recovery from three surgeries this time last year, where she went under the knife on both wrists and an ankle.
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Raducanu is looking forward to her return to grass after missing last season and is ‘super grateful’ for being ‘so healthy’
Raducanu, who rose 44 places from No 209 to No 165 in the latest WTA rankings, offered an encouraging update after her clash with Boulter in Nottingham, saying: “I feel really good, after the match I went and did intervals. I feel strong, I feel like I could play tomorrow, I am just shaking off a bit of a bug and cold but otherwise physically I am great.
“For me it was a good start to grass court season, it was nice to get some matches. I am disappointed, but Katie played and served in particularly really well.”
Raducanu’s final chance of playing competitive tennis is at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne from June 24-29 before the start of Wimbledon.
She made her breakthrough at the Grand Slam where, barely two months out of school and without a Tour win to her name, the 18-year-old made the fourth round on debut in 2021.
While Raducanu will compete at Wimbledon, she has declined an invitation to be part of Team GB at this summer’s Olympics in Paris.
“I just don’t think there’s any need to put additional stress on my body or any risk, especially with my history,” she said.
Fran Jones, and Heather Watson join Naomi Osaka and Caroline Wozniacki as other wild cards into the women’s singles main draw.
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