Dominic Thiem and Emma Raducanu, former U.S. Open champions, will headline the qualifying event for the Australian Open as they look to make a strong comeback in 2024 after struggling with injuries.
Thiem won the 2020 U.S. Open to break the Grand Slam monopoly of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic but a wrist injury the following year kept him out of action for months. His ranking also slipped to number 352 after a series of other fitness issues.
The 30-year-old Austrian, now ranked 98th, won his first match at a Grand Slam since 2021 in New York in August before crashing out in the second round.
Thiem, who made the Melbourne Park final in 2020, can still gain direct entry into the main draw of the tournament if one player pulls out.
Raducanu missed out on an Australian Open wildcard and will now have to take a similar path as her run 2021 Flushing Meadows run when she became the first player in the Open Era to win a major after beginning in the qualifying rounds.
The 21-year-old Briton, who is now ranked number 299, will gear up for the first Grand Slam of the year by playing at the Auckland Classic having fought her way back to fitness following operations on both wrists and an ankle in May.
Raducanu is five spots outside the main draw cut-off.
The qualifying tournament will begin on January 8 while the main draw is from 14-28 of the same month.
— Additional input from Reuters
