Emma Raducanu adds new tournament to schedule as Brit joins Iga Swiatek

Emma Raducanu will join Iga Swiatek and plenty of other big names at the Korea Open next month, it has been revealed. Raducanu is currently preparing to face Sofia Kenin in the first round of the US Open but is already planning her schedule for the rest of the year. Next month, she will travel to Seoul to play at the Korea Open alongside the likes of Swiatek, Jessica Pegula and Elena Rybakina. The event will begin on September 16 at the Olympic Park Tennis Centre, with the qualifying rounds starting two days before the main draw.

The Korea Open has been elevated from WTA 250 to WTA 500 this year, meaning the champion will earn 500 world ranking points. The winner will also receive a prize of around £758,000, marking a sharp increase from the £197,000 payout last year. Raducanu reached the semi-finals of the Korea Open two years ago, losing to eventual runner-up Jelena Ostapenko. She was on the brink of defeat when she was forced to retire from the match with a glute injury in the final set.

A number of other high-profile players will also be involved, such as Daria Kasatkina, Karolina Pliskova and Karolina Muchova. It remains to be seen if Raducanu will be able to mount a title challenge in Seoul to boost her preparations for the Billie Jean King Cup. For now, though, she will be focused on giving a good account of herself at the US Open with her campaign starting on Tuesday. The young Brit stunned the world when she won at Flushing Meadows three years ago in only her fourth senior-level tournament.

Speaking over the weekend, Raducanu explained that she has now come to terms with her famous victory and feels proud when she walks past the wall of champions and sees her picture. “I feel a lot better, I feel very proud when I come here,” she said. “Walking past my photo every day, walking past my name on the trophy every day. I think that is such an epic achievement and these two weeks, I completed it.

“For me, coming back here now, I come back with such a different outlook. Just joy and pride and it inspires me to want to do more. I would say I was a lot more nervous and I think I felt pressure more [in 2022]. It is natural. I still didn’t come to terms with it. “I think overall now, I am in a much more solid and consistent state than I was when I came back last time.”