Emma Raducanu has been warned she is risking the bruised bone on her right foot becoming a stress fracture, and that could yet sideline her for up to 12 weeks. The British No1 has played just three matches since mid-October after cutting last season short due to illness and injury.

Two of those came this week at the Hobart International, a WTA 250 tournament at which Raducanu was the top seed, but only reached the quarter-finals before losing in straight sets to the world No. 204 Taylah Preston. Her one win in Tasmania came against Camila Osorio in the first round, before she received a bye in the second round because her scheduled opponent, Magdalena Frech, withdrew.

The only other outing this year for Raducanu came while representing Great Britain at the United Cup. She lost to the former world No.3 Maria Sakkari in three sets a day after withdrawing from a match against the two-time Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka.

GB team captain Tim Henman said at the time that "she struggled with her foot at the end of last year". Raducanu describes the problem as "light bone bruising" on her right foot.

Leading athlete welfare expert Stephen Smith has told Tennis365 about the risks of such an injury. He said: "If she has to overload that, or has to put too much stress and strain on a bone bruise like that, the risk for that is like a stress fracture, and then we're talking like eight to 12 weeks of time lost because of something like that.

"So, I think that's a real precarious position that she's in, because she has to get the balance right of how much is too much that she turns this bone bruising into a stress fracture? And how much is enough to be able to get a base to be able to play your season?

"And that's a really, really unenviable position that she's in. But going to a tournament like the Australian Open when you've had your entire pre-season hampered by something like that, I think, will be very, very challenging."

Raducanu was due to practice in Melbourne on Friday morning after flying over from Hobart. However, Express Sport understands she is now instead scheduled to do so at 11am on Saturday.

Smith explained the impact that a disrupted pre-season can have on players. He said: "I think you ask too much, you put too much stress and too much toll on your body when you don't have that foundational base that you need.

"You don't have the conditioning base, you don't have the neurological strength base, and potentially don't have the cardiovascular base either. I think that's when you see small injuries like this pop up, and it can have a pretty big impact, a meaningful impact on the entire season for someone."