Former U.S. Open women’s champion Emma Raducanu is part of the qualifying field for the 2024 Australian Open.
Raducanu famously went through qualifying en route to winning the 2021 U.S. Open. She was the first player in the Open Era to begin in qualifying and win a Grand Slam event.
Former U.S. Open men’s champion Dominic Thiem is also part of the qualifying field at this point. He won the 2020 U.S. Open.
Raducanu, 21, has fallen on hard times since her breakthrough victory in New York.
She underwent wrist and ankle surgeries this year and her ranking dropped to No. 299 in the world. But she has a special ranking of No. 103 due to her absences from the tour, and that leaves her five spots outside the main draw cutoff line.
The U.S. Open remains the lone title the Brit has won. Her highest ranking was No. 10 in July 2022.
Raducanu plans to play in the Auckland Classic, one of the tournaments leading up to the Australian Open.
Thiem, 30, is currently ranked 98th, just one spot off the cutoff for the men’s draw. He can move into the field if just one player withdraws.
The Austrian was as high as No. 3 in the world in March 2020 and his career reached a zenith with the U.S. Open title.
But midway through the 2021 season, Thiem sustained a serious wrist injury that led to him missing four of the next five Grand Slam events. He has since been on the comeback trail and showed progress this year.
Thiem has won 17 career titles.
Other men in the qualifying field include Belgium’s David Goffin (No. 111), Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman (No. 114), France’s Benoit Paire (No. 117) and American Maxime Cressy (No. 126).
Also part of the women’s qualifying field are Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska (No. 102), Italy’s Sara Errani (No. 105), France’s Alize Cornet (No. 117) and Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi (No. 168).
Qualifying begins Jan. 8. The main-draw event is Jan. 14-28.
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic is the reigning men’s champion after winning his 10th Aussie Open title. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus won the women’s title in 2023 for the first time.
–Field Level Media