Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu CAN bring home Billie Jean King Cup, insists Team GB captain Anne Keothavong ahead of showdown with defending champions Canada
If Katie Boulter and Emma Raducanu continue to play as good a game as their captain is talking, Canada had better be worried.
After Great Britain beat Germany to set up a Billie Jean King Cup quarter-final with the defending champions, skipper Anne Keothavong said: ‘I really believe we can win this, I don’t have a problem saying that out loud. We’ve got quality players who have shown what they’re capable of.’
Keothavong is quite right to be bullish on GB’s chances of winning this competition for the first time in its 60-year history. America and the Czechs ought to be streets ahead but both are shorn of their top players this week.
The USA are already out, meaning GB would face either Slovakia or Australia in the semi-finals. Poland and Italy are favourites but both sit on the other side of the bracket.
In GB’s half of the draw, Boulter is the top-ranked No1 player; Raducanu the highest No2.
Keothavong added: ‘To be able to captain the team of incredible women, for Katie to lead the way she does and to have Emma back in the team, I feel like I’m in a very fortunate position.’
Katie Boulter (right) and Emma Raducanu (left) beat Germany to set up quarter-final clash with Canada on Sunday
Anne Keothavong was bullish on GB’s chances of winning the competition for the first time
Keothavong’s message to her troops on Malaga’s slick indoor hard court is: attack, attack, attack.
‘The surface really encourages fast, aggressive tennis,’ said the 41-year-old. ‘We have players more than capable of stepping in and imposing themselves.
‘It’s about executing under pressure. Representing your nation brings out the best in some players and not necessarily in others – I know I’ve got a team who thrive under pressure. They have shown it before and hopefully they can show it again.’
Sunday’s match against Canada, beginning at 4pm UK time and live on BBC iPlayer, looks like a coin flip. Raducanu will play either Rebecca Merino or Marina Stakusic, and with both ranked outside the top 100 the British No2 should win.
Canada’s doubles pair – Leylah Fernandez and Grand Slam winner Gabriela Dabrowski – looks intimidating, so the tie is likely to come down to Boulter’s match against Fernandez.
World No32 Fernandez, whom Raducanu beat to win the 2021 US Open, is a scuffler and improviser: the archetypal tricky lefty. There is a marked contrast to Boulter’s see-ball-hit-ball approach and the fast surface could give the edge to Britain.
‘We know the matchup pretty well,’ said Boulter (they are 1-1 head to head). ‘It will be an absolute battle but I’m looking forward to it.’
