Emma Raducanu's return to tennis was supposed to continue with an exhibition against Naomi Osaka at the 2024 Australian Open, but both players withdrew.
Raducanu, who is set to make a team adjustment for the Australian Open, made a comeback at the ASB Classic in Auckland. This was her first appearance at a WTA event since a loss at the Stuttgart Open in April.
The Brit impressed after so long away from the sport. She defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the opening round, and then came close to beating the eventual runner-up Elena Svitolina in a high-quality second-round contest.
Understandably, Raducanu is not playing another WTA tournament the week before the Australian Open, with the 2021 US Open champion not wanting to potentially overplay too much with the opening Grand Slam of the year so close.
However, Raducanu still wanted to get some additional match practice, and that is why she was set to get that on the courts in Melbourne against a former winner at the Australian Open.
Raducanu was supposed to face Naomi Osaka in the charity match at the Australian Open, which was supposed to take place at 6:30 pm local time in Melbourne.
However, the match was eventually not held. First, Osaka withdrew from it as a "precaution" and she was replaced by Donna Vekic, who should have been Raducanu's opponent in the charity match.
Osaka is also making her long-awaited comeback to the sport, after she was out on maternity leave. The four-time Grand Slam champion and two-time Australian Open winner returned in Brisbane, and lost in her second match to Karolina Pliskova.
However, soon after Osaka's withdrawal, Raducanu also announced that she wouldn't be playing, so the tournament organizers were forced to cancel the match altogether.
While both withdrawals seem to be precautionary, it's certainly worrying to see two former Grand Slam champions with injury worries ahead of the season's first Grand Slam.
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