Emma Raducanu sets return date as Brit makes first schedule update since surgery

Emma Raducanu has officially set a return date as she signed up to the MGM Macau Tennis Masters in December. The Brit has not played a match since the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in April and underwent three different surgeries in May. The mixed exhibition tournament marks the first she has committed to since her trio of operations.

Raducanu will be back in action during the off-season in December after putting her name down for a new exhibition event in Macau, China. The invitational mixed-gender tournament will be staged in the East Asian Games Dome and several other top player have already signed up.

The 20-year-old and China’s Wu Yibing are the latest additions to the roster, joining ATP top 10 stars Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe as well as Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic. Luiz Carvalho, senior vice-president at IMG – the agency that represents Raducanu and is also involved in hosting the tournament – said: “There will be an even greater connection to the local community.

“Emma’s Chinese roots and her remarkable rise to stardom by winning the US Open have made her a global sensation, while Wu Yibing’s historic feat as the first Chinese national to win an ATP tournament has significantly elevated his standing in world tennis.”

Held across December 2 and 3, the tournament will stage two men’s singles matches and one mixed doubles on Saturday plus one women’s singles match and two men’s singles matches on Sunday. With Raducanu and Bencic already locked in to face off on day two, one more male player is yet to be announced and could partner the Brit in the mixed doubles.

The women’s singles match will be a rematch of the 2021 US Open quarter-final when Raducanu stunned the then-11th seed 6-3 6-4 en route to her historic title victory in Flushing Meadows. The pair were then meant to face off in another exhibition – the Mubadala World Tennis Classic – in December of that year but Raducanu caught Covid and pulled out.

Raducanu has been sidelined since having surgery in both wrists and one ankle in May, already missing the French Open and Wimbledon. She is also expected to skip the US Open as she continues her recovery.