After storming out of this year's ASB Classic, Briton Emma Raducanu will make a long-awaited injury comeback at the Auckland tournament next month.
The former US Open champion made her New Zealand debut earlier this year, but left in tears, when she was forced to withdraw injured.
Raducanu rolled her ankle during her second-round match against Slovak Viktoria Kuzmova, which she blamed on the subpar surface of the indoor courts in use due to heavy rain throughout the event.
"The courts are incredibly slick, like very slippery, so to be honest it's not a surprise that this happened to someone," she said.
She hasn’t played since April, after surgery on both wrists and an ankle.
Once ranked inside the top 10, she's plummeted to world No.296 and will enter next year's draw as one of four wildcards.
Raducanu shot to fame with her victory in the 2021 US Open, becoming the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title in the Open era.
Since then, she has been hampered by physical issues and a loss of form, and hasn't made it past the second round of a Grand Slam, since the 2021 final at New York.
Tournament director Nicolas Lamperin says he's stayed in contact with Raducanu during her recovery and enticing her back to Aotearoa was ultimately straightforward.
"She loves this time of the year, she has a really good friend in New Zealand and despite the fact she had to retire this year, she was really happy to come back," he said.
Raducanu will try to use Auckland as a springboard for the Australian Open, where she'll need to qualify for the first time since her triumph at Flushing Meadows two years ago.
Lamperin insists there'll be no issues with the indoor courts, which have been resurfaced since January's controversies.
Reigning US Open champion Coco Gauff, former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Wimbledon semi-finalist Elina Svitolina are among the other headliners confirmed for the tournament.
"It's an extremely exciting field," added Lamperin. "I think it's something we promised to the fans every year and we need to make sure we do everything it takes to build a stellar field.
"I'm positive we've done that again."
The tournament runs from Janury 1-7.
ASB Classic women's field:
1. Coco Gauff (USA) World No 3, 2. Elina Svitolina (UKR) No 25, 3. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) No 31, 4. Emma Navarro (USA) No 32, 5. Marie Bouzkova (CZE) No 34, 6. Xinyu Wang (CHN) No 36, 7. Petra Martic (CRO) No 40, 8. Varvara Gracheva (FRA) No 43, 9. Anna Blinkova No 50, 10. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova No 57, 11. Magdalena Frech (POL) No 63, No 12. Rebecca Masarova (ESP) No 64, 13. Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) No 68, 14. Xiyu Wang (CHN) 71; 15. Elina Avanesyan No 74, 16. Yue Yuan (CHN) No 77, 17. Emina Bektas (USA) No 87, 18 Kayla Kay (USA) No 89, 19 Jaqueline Cristian (ROU) 91, 20. Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE) No 93, 21. Diane Parry (FRA) 94, 22. Claire Liu (USA) 99.
Wildcards: Emma Raducanu (GBR), Amanda Anisimova (USA), Caroline Wozniacki (DEN).
