Emma Raducanu has revealed she will be spending a “hot” Christmas Day with her best friend on the beach in New Zealand.
But the British No.2 claimed she will miss the cold back home in London as she prepares for her new season.
The Bromley-based star was due to fly Down Under on Friday for a mini training camp in Brisbane but is instead planning to fly to Auckland 10 days before her season begins, this Friday.
Raducanu will get underway at the Auckland Open on December 30 and said: “I’ll be in Auckland on Christmas Day. My best friend Izzy lives in Auckland. So actually, last year I did the same.
« The last two years I’ve been with her and her family, and we go up north an hour, and she has a little beach hut. It’s different. It’s like a hot Christmas with a barbecue on the beach.
« It’s just different for someone who grew up in London. December in London is my favourite time of year. But I guess I’m just gonna make peace for the next 10 or 15 years and then I’ll come back and have a cold Christmas.”
Raducanu, 22, suffered a foot injury in Korea in September which kept her out of compeititve tennis until she returned for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last month.
The layoff did allow her to work with her new Japanese trainer Yutaka Nakamura in an pre-season physical conditioning work at home before leaving.
“I had a bit of a different pre-season this year because I was injured earlier, and I did a lot of training,” she explained. “So I just want to get out in the heat a bit earlier. And it makes sense to go all the way rather than go somewhere and then come back and then fly out again.”
“I’m going to go to Brisbane for a week first because there’s a lot of players over there. Brisbane is one of the national centres. I am actually good friends with Priscilla Hon, so we’re going to hit, hang out there, get in the heat.
« I didn’t want to go straight to Auckland because if you get to a tournament too early, you kind of get a bit stale before the match. So I wanted to go there and it’s like tournament time. I still wanted the heat, so I’m going to go to Brisbane for a week.”
With the first Grand Slam of the season starting in Melbourne on Sunday January 12, the world No.57 is hoping to play two warm-up events.
“I’m going to play Auckland and I actually want to play in Adelaide,” she said. “But that is dependent on how I do in Auckland and the cut-offs. And obviously any unpredictable situations that may arise.
« But the plan is to hopefully play Auckland, Adelaide and then Melbourne, of course. I feel like I’m in a pretty good place to just get on court as much as I can.”
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