Temporarily hospitalized, Wright was forced to pull out of the Corona Open J-Bay and was diagnosed with Influenza A with complications that sidelined her from competition since.

But Wright has announced that she is ready for her next phase of recovery - pulling on the jersey and surfing in a WSL Championship Tour (CT) event once again.

The 25-year-old will compete in the final event of the 2019 season, the Maui Pro, with hopes of re-joining the WSL CT in the 2020 season.

"Maui is the next step in my recovery process," said Wright.

"I've taken a lot of steps to get to this point, and it's been a lot of hard work.

"And after Maui, there'll be another step.

"I'm not sure what pulling the jersey on will be like, or what is going to happen. But I'm okay with that.

"That's part of the reason why I'm here, to expose myself to that competitive environment again.

"It's part of the recovery process and I'm ready to embrace it."

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Prior to competing in Maui, Wright has spent the past few weeks chasing swells around the Hawaiian Islands, testing her strength in bigger waves.

"I love being back in the water," Wright said.

"I haven't surfed this much since I was 14.

"I've got boards everywhere, I'm exposing myself to bigger and heavier waves and love it.

"When I started feeling sick, they said I had Influenza A.

"I obviously had complications from that.

"It's taken me 17 months to recover - it messed up my brain and my body.

"I can feel that I've been out of the water for a year-and-a-half.

"I can feel that I'm 10 kilograms lighter - things are different.

"It is an adjusting period, but like I said I haven't surfed as much as I have in the past few months as I have in the last couple of years.

"I'm excited about that and I'm excited about everything that I'm doing.

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"It really is all a trial at the moment...it's part of taking those steps to come back."

The last time Wright surfed at the Maui Pro, she claimed her second World Title in 2017.

This year, the Maui Pro at Honolua Bay will host the world title showdown between current world number one Carissa Moore (Hawaii), number two Lakey Peterson (United States), and number three Caroline Marks (US), and will also serve as the final provisional CT qualification pathway for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Wright will be against Peterson, the 2018 WSL runner-up, and Brazil's Silvana Lima in the second heat of seeding round one - while Gerroa's Sally Fitzgibbons will battle Costa Rica's Brisa Hennessy and New Zealand's Paige Hareb in heat four.