Angelique Kerber and Ajla Tomljanovic have withdrawn from this week's Adelaide International after their United Cup runs.
Kerber, representing eventual champion Team Germany, and Tomljanovic, representing host nation Australia, at the recently concluded United Cup, had a long and arduous week and have elected not to seek additional matches ahead of the Australian Open.
The first Slam of 2024 is set for a historic Sunday start, on January 14th. Kerber and Tomljanovic will head straight to Melbourne after staying in Sydney until the very last weekend of the mixed-gender team tournament.
Kerber was fortunate enough to be part of the winning team as Germany completed a stunning upset to beat the much-fancied Poland team in Sunday's final. The 35-year-old veteran played the first matches of her comeback.
She won one of five singles matches, but her dogged resistance was still on show every time she stepped on the court. Before the United Cup, Kerber was last in action at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
After her exit at SW19 that year, she took maternity leave and gave birth to her first child in February 2023, a baby daughter, with partner Franco Bianco. Kerber has joined a growing list of WTA players who have been enjoying decent form as returning mothers.
She was expected to make her first WTA main draw appearance since rejoining the tour at this week's Adelaide 500 tournament. The German lefty had been given a main draw berth following the withdrawal of Qinwen Zheng.
But that won't happen. Tomljanovic will also not travel to Adelaide. The 30-year-old played just ten matches in 2023 as injuries scuppered her schedule. But she bounced back strongly at the end of last season, returning to the tour and winning the WTA 125K in Florianopolis.
She'll be hoping for an injury-free year. At the United Cup, Tomljanovic won one of four singles matches and lost to Kerber in the semifinal of the tie between Germany and Australia.
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