Those competitive fires are difficult to suppress when that feeling of unfinished business takes hold, so for the likes of Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka Australian Open 2024 offers a welcome return.
Nadal and Osaka join Angelique Kerber as three former champions mounting a comeback at Melbourne Park in January, at what has been a pivotal event in their respective Grand Slam journeys.
None of the three will have contested a tour-level match before the Australian summer of tennis, having spent extended stints out of the sport.
The release of the AO 2024 entry lists on Thursday confirmed this trio headline a large group of stars plotting their return at Melbourne Park in January.
Rafael Nadal
Twice the last man standing at Melbourne Park, Nadal announced plans to take his first steps back at the Brisbane International, following almost a year out due to left hip surgery.
The 37-year-old, who limped out of his Australian Open title defence in the second round in 2023 and did not play again all season, has fallen to world No.663 and will use a protected ranking of No.9 to make his return.
“I believe I’m in a different moment, situation. I am in an unexplored terrain,” the 22-time major champion said on social media.
“I have internalised what I have had throughout my life, which is demand myself the maximum.
“Right now what I really hope is to be able not to do that, to accept things are going to be very difficult at the beginning and give myself the necessary time.”
Naomi Osaka
The closest Osaka came to competition in 2023 was as a spectator courtside on Arthur Ashe Stadium where she took in Coco Gauff’s ascent to Grand Slam glory.
The four-time major winner – an Australian Open champion in 2019 and 2021 – has not played a match since September 2022 when she withdrew from the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
In January, the 26-year-old announced she was pregnant and gave birth to daughter Shai in July.
The former world No.1 this week shared footage on Instagram of her return to practice, having revealed plans to begin her comeback at the Brisbane International ahead of AO 2024.
“It's definitely way more tournaments than I used to play,” Osaka said of her planned schedule in an interview with ESPN. “So I think some people will be happy with that … I think I have to ease into it.”
Angelique Kerber
As the site of her Grand Slam breakthrough in the 2016 final against Serena Williams, Melbourne Park has always held a special place in Kerber’s heart.
The 35-year-old has not played since Wimbledon 2022 and like Osaka, became a mother this year – to baby Liana in February.
The German revealed plans to return for the Australian summer of tennis and told the Bad Homburg tournament website her motivation had not waned.
“I can already feel the anticipation of being back on court in Australia soon,” the three-time major winner said.
“I realise that coming back will probably be the biggest challenge of my career, but that spurs me on.”
Amanda Anisimova
Former world No.21 Anisimova announced an indefinite break from the sport in May, citing burnout and the need to look after her mental health.
Following a six-month hiatus, the American will make her return Down Under in January.
Twice Anisimova has reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, as recently as 2022, when she dethroned defending champion Osaka in the third round after saving two match points.
Marin Cilic
Former US Open champion and AO 2018 finalist Cilic has endured a frustrating season after suffering a right knee injury in Pune in January.
The 35-year-old was forced to skip AO 2023 and later underwent surgery before he returned to his home event at Umag in Croatia in July.
His most recent attempt at a comeback lasted just one match and he has not played again since a straight-sets defeat to Flavio Cobolli.
The Croatian reached the fourth round at Melbourne Park on his most recent outing in 2022.
Denis Shapovalov
Canada’s Shapovalov will make his Grand Slam return at AO 2024 after he missed the last half of the season due to a knee injury.
The former world No.10’s last match was a fourth-round defeat to Roman Safiullin at Wimbledon in July.
Despite better news off court – he shared his engagement to Swedish player Mirjam Bjorklund on Instagram – his plans to return for this year’s US Open were derailed as the 24-year-old announced his knee needed more time.
As a result, Shapovalov last month fell outside the top 100 for the first time in six years.
Jennifer Brady
Free-swinging Brady enjoyed a breakout run at AO 2021 when she swept her way to a maiden Grand Slam final before Osaka had her measure.
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It elevated the American to world No.13 before it all came crashing down on home soil seven months later.
Competing at Cincinnati, she suffered a stress fracture in her right knee, while a torn plantar fascia only compounded her injury woes.
Following a quietly-successful return in August, Brady will contest the Australian Open for the first time since that trip to the final three years ago.
Ajla Tomljanovic
A quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2022, Tomljanovic harboured realistic ambitions of a deep run at her home slam in 2023.
A knee injury, which later required surgery, put paid to those plans and ruled her out until the US Open in August. She was restricted to just 10 matches for all of 2023.
Yet the 30-year-old’s perseverance was rewarded in her final event of the year, when she landed the biggest title of her career last month at Florianopolis, Brazil.
The Australian Open remains the only major at which Tomljanovic has not yet reached the second week.
Milos Raonic
Sidelined since July 2021 due to a succession of injuries including his Achilles and right shoulder, former world No.3 Raonic made his comeback on grass at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in June.
While he only played a limited schedule for the remainder of the season, the big-serving 32-year-old managed to claim a top-10 win over Frances Tiafoe at the Toronto Masters and won a live singles rubber against Patrick Kaukovalta in Canada’s losing Davis Cup tie to Finland last month.
Raonic’s best result at Melbourne Park came in 2016 when he reached the semifinals.
Emma Raducanu on the cusp
The 2021 US Open champion hopes to join the AO 2024 field having not played a match since falling to Jelena Ostapenko at Stuttgart in April.
The 21-year-old will make her return at Auckland in the lead-up in what will be her first competitive event since she underwent surgery on both wrists and an ankle.
With a protected ranking of No.103, Raducanu currently sits six places outside the main-draw entry cut-off.