Tennis-Raducanu targets comeback next season after injury-hit 2023

FILE PHOTO: Tennis - WTA 500 - Stuttgart Open - Porsche Arena, Stuttgart, Germany - April 18, 2023 Britain's Emma Raducanu in action during her round of 32 match against Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth/File Photo

(Reuters) - Former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu said it was difficult to watch this year's Grand Slams from the sidelines following wrist and ankle surgeries but the 20-year-old is targeting a comeback next season after dropping outside the world's top 200.

Raducanu, who won her maiden Grand Slam title in New York as an 18-year-old qualifier in 2021, has not played since April, missing the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open and dropping to number 214 in the rankings.