Tennis: Emma Raducanu willing to spend Christmas in quarantine to play at Australian Open

Emma Raducanu, of Britain, reacts after defeating Leylah Fernandez, of Canada, during the women's singles final of the US Open. Photo / AP

Emma Raducanu would be willing to spend Christmas holed up in hotel quarantine to ensure she can play in the Australian Open in January.

The 18-year-old US Open champion said she would do "whatever it takes", despite the country maintaining some of the strictest Covid-19 protocols in the world.

Her commitment to the tournament comes after a week in which the British Prime Minister called for exemptions for relatives of England cricketers during the Ashes series.

England are preparing for potential player withdrawals, with Australian authorities set to stand by strict bubble conditions, which force all incoming elite athletes into quarantine for two weeks.

Ashley Giles, the managing director of England men's cricket, will meet the players this week to reassure them over arrangements in an attempt to avert as many withdrawals as possible.

The England and Wales Cricket Board received details of quarantine procedures for players and families, as well as biobubble conditions, on Friday and has gone back to Cricket Australia with a handful of queries. Once it has received those answers it will present them to the players this week and ask who is willing to go.

It is understood most families will be allowed to travel, so it is a question of whether they will want to go through quarantine with young children.

Raducanu was unaware of the likely restrictions affecting tennis players, but said she would do "whatever needs to be done to be able to play the Australian Open", which starts on Jan 17.

"To me it's not even a thought or like a battle in my mind," she said. "I just want to be at the Australian Open, and I want to compete there, so whatever it takes to do, I'll go."

Her position is in stark contrast to England's cricketers, with the ECB preparing for revolt if players are confined to hotels and not allowed to live a normal life in Australia. Even Australia's own Olympic athletes had to stay in government-run hotels for two weeks when they returned from Tokyo.

Raducanu, however, says she would be prepared to play in Melbourne after a potential two weeks of quarantine and then a week's training. "I want to beat anyone who's in front of me," she said. "I'm hungry to play anyone and I think that would be a really cool challenge."

The teenager, who last week parted company with coach Andrew Richardson, dismissed suggestions she could be a favourite for the title. "If I'm seeded, then I'm seeded, but favourite? I think one tournament, you can't really say I'm a favourite but I'm still so new to everything," she said.

"I feel like I'm learning and absorbing all the knowledge that I'm gaining like a sponge and soaking it all in. That's what I really want to do. I'm not focused on results, I'm focused on how much I can learn because that's what's really going to drive me forward."

Raducanu, who is yet to confirm her next competition, said returning to the court "is exactly where I want to be" after a fortnight that has involved visits to the Met Gala in New York and London Fashion Week.

"That's where my head is at," she said of returning to tennis. "Even if the other things are cool, tennis is where it's at."

- Telegraph Media Group