Billie Jean king cup
Emma Raducanu will be leading the Great Britain team in the tournament qualifier against Czech Republic
Great Britain will be travelling to the capital city of Prague to take on Czech Republic in the qualifiers of the Billie Jean King Cup, previously known as the Fed Cup. Emma Raducanu is making her debut in this competition and will be leading a strong Great Britain side comprising Harriet Dart, Katie Swan and Sonay Kartal. Raducanu was previously selected in the Great Britain side for the competition back in February 2020 but didn’t get to play. This will also be the first time that Raducanu plays a professional match on clay surface.
When it comes to the other players in the squad, Harriet Dart is experienced on the WTA circuit, being ranked in the top 100 and comes to this tournament in good form. Katie Swan is the most experienced player in this squad having played five times with an impressive win record of 4-1. However, presently she is ranked outside the top 200 in the WTA rankings. Sony Kartal will be making her debut in this competition like Raducanu and has been in good touch leading into this competition.
Great Britain will be missing two veteran players in Heather Watson, who decided to skip as she looks to focus on her singles rankings and Katie Boulter, who is missing out due to an injury.
The Czech team will be without their top three ranked players in Karolina Pliskova (7), Barbora Krejcikova (13) and Petra Kvitova (23). However, they still boast of a strong squad including World no.32 Marketa Vondrousova and top-70 trio of Katerina Siniakova, Tereza Martincova and Karolina Muchova.
The ties are best-of-five rubbers with four singles matches and one doubles. A total of 12 teams will qualify for the finals later this year. Great Britain are bidding to host the competition and could still secure a place even if they lose to Czech Republic.
The matches will take place on the 15th and 16th of April at the Czech Lawn Tennis Club. The first match on 15th will begin from 11:00 am (BST) and on 16th it will begin from 10:30 am (BST). Viewers in the UK can watch the live broadcast on BBC’s digital channels and the LTA’s official Tik Tok handle.
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