Emma Raducanu’s birthday soured by exhibition withdrawal amid ongoing injury concerns

Emma Raducanu’s return from double wrist surgery has been delayed after she withdrew from her planned trip to Macau at the start of December.

Raducanu, 21 on Monday, was announced as one of the participants in the MGM Macau Tennis Masters in July, an exhibition event that starts next month. She had been due to appear there alongside notable players including Belinda Bencic, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz.

But Raducanu is now looking elsewhere for her return to the match court. While her representatives at IMG still believe she is on track to start the new season, there is also a sense of caution. Too much eagerness could potentially cause a setback.

At this stage, it is understood Raducanu still felt she would be able to play in Macau. But the organisers of the event didn’t want to run the risk of a late withdrawal, so she pre-empted any possible delays.

Raducanu has not played competitive tennis since she lost to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart on April 18. In May, she underwent three procedures in the space of a couple of weeks: an operation on each wrist, to remove carpal bosses (bony spurs), and also a clean-up job on one of her ankles.

She has recently started posting social media videos of her training routines, which are largely being performed in the controlled environment of the National Tennis Centre in south west London.

It remains unclear, however, who is overseeing Raducanu’s training programmes. Insiders say her father Ian is there with her every day. The Raducanu family seem increasingly determined to keep themselves to themselves, but at some stage, they will need to decide who will be part of her next support team.

This could be made more challenging by repeated statements from Raducanu and her representatives questioning the value of coaching.

“I think on certain occasions they [her coaches] haven’t been able to keep up with the questions I asked,” said Raducanu in her most recent interview. “So maybe that’s why it ended.”

Raducanu’s ranking has dropped to No 289 as a result of her lengthy period of inactivity. In her absence, Katie Boulter led the British team that beat Sweden at the weekend, thus maintaining their position in the world group of the Billie Jean King Cup.

Raducanu might be able to request a wildcard for January’s Australian Open. If not, she could use her protected ranking, which is designed to look after those with long-term injuries. The most important thing is that she should be physically ready for the task.