Emma Raducanu looks set to return to action next week with the former US Open champion all but confirming that she will play at the Madrid Open.
As things stand, Raducanu is not on the entry list for the WTA 1000 event as her ranking as well as her special ranking were too low for a direct entry.
The 21-year-old also didn’t feature on the initial list of wildcards handed out by tournament organisers with the first two going to former world No 1s Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep.
Raducanu, though, has already made the trip to Madrid according to her Instagram account as she posted a story stating: “Madrid .”
There are still seven wildcards available with one slot likely to go to Raducanu. It has also been confirmed in recent days that Halep won’t play in the Spanish capital as she had to withdraw due to a knee injury.
Playing in another stacked Madrid Open will be another boost for Raducanu after some excellent performances in recent weeks. The world’s best women’s players will all feature as it is a mandatory 1000 event.
After a sluggish start to the year that saw her make several early exits, Raducanu started to show glimpses of her best form at the Indian Wells Open, but then suffered an injury setback and missed the Miami Open.
But she returned at the Billie Jean King Cup last week and pulled off two brilliant wins to steer Great Britain to a 3-1 win over France in the qualifying round.
She followed that up with wins over three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber and rising star Linda Novoska at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix before going down in straight sets against world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarter-final.
Raducanu is projected to rise 82 places in the WTA Rankings to No 221 on the back of those wins.
The former world No 10 believes one weapon has been key.
“I think it helps I feel like the last two tournaments, I’d say, I have more of a serve, so it’s more of a weapon. I feel like I can raise my game more on that,” she explained
“I feel like at the start of the year it was more just having to work so hard and win every point from the baseline. I feel like that definitely makes a difference.
“Equally I just feel like I trust all the work I have been doing on the practice courts so much. I have been working at it really hard. I wouldn’t say, yeah, I do anything particularly special. I just try and stay in the present and rely and fall back on my training.”