World No. 29 Emma Raducanu's 2025 season may be over but the 2021 US Open champion is still close to achieving the target that she set for the remainder of the year.
Recently, Raducanu returned to the top-30 on the WTA rankings list. That marked the 22-year-old being a top-30 player for the first time since 2022 December.
When addressing her goals for the rest of the year, Raducanu admitted that finishing the year ranked inside the top-30 was her priority because she wanted to be a seeded player at the Australian Open. For the British tennis star to be a seed in Melbourne, she would need to be among the top-32 players when the time comes for the opening Grand Slam of the 2026 season.
Unfortunately for Raducanu, she was hit by a setback and had to end her 2025 season prematurely due to illness but also a lower-back issue. Had the world No. 29 stayed healthy, she would have also competed at this week's WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo and next week's WTA 250 event in Hong Kong - that would have given her a great chance to collect some solid ranking points.
Despite not playing, Raducanu gained a spot in live rankings she is No. 28 there. Considering that some of the players closest to her on the rankings list haven't done well lately or are also not playing, the 22-year-old appears to be likely to finish the year as a top-30 member.
Here's what Raducanu exactly said about her rankings goal
"My goal for the coming weeks is to try to be seeded at the Australian Open, I will do everything I can to achieve that. The higher my ranking is, the better. You might have better chances of advancing in the draw, but you can still be seeded and play against the best players quite early in tournaments. There's also an element of luck, but you have to do your best in all situations to increase your chances," the 22-year-old said in Wuhan when asked about her targets for the rest of the year.
