Great Britain face new challenge at Billie Jean King Cup and must beware underdog threat

Injuries and absences have evened the playing field for this all-important qualifying tie, but Great Britain should still have the edge

Katie Boulter once again leads the GB team while Jodie Burrage is a late replacement for Emma Raducanu (Getty Images for LTA)

The women’s tennis tour takes a rare breather this week, with the frenetic pace of the calendar slowing down just enough to allow its players the luxury of a short international break. Four of Britain’s top six female singles players and its top doubles player touched down in the Netherlands on Monday, a few days ahead of their Billie Jean King Cup qualifying round.

The quintet, led by captain Anne Keothavong, kick-start their 2025 campaign against Germany on Friday, before facing the host nation on Saturday. It’s a simple format: six groups of three play this week, with the winners of each group advancing to the eight-nation Finals, held in September in Shenzhen.

Defending champions Italy and Finals host squad China receive an automatic bye. (The wisdom of giving the latter, ranked 22nd in the world, a guaranteed spot is up for debate). For those finishing second or third in their qualifying ties, there’s no reprieve. Everything rests on this week.

For GB, topping the group, and securing their tickets to Shenzhen, is a realistic goal. Britain are ranked seventh in the Billie Jean King Cup rankings, four places above Germany and ten above the Netherlands. They also have the two highest-ranked singles players in the tie in world No. 40 Katie Boulter and in-form No. 60 Sonay Kartal. The latter made the fourth round at Indian Wells last month, and would make her BJK Cup debut should she play this week.

Keothavong had intended to bring an even stronger squad to the Hague, with British No. 2 Emma Raducanu – now back in the top 50 – withdrawing from the team to “look after her body”. Her exit means a return to BJK Cup action for Jodie Burrage, a talented player who has dropped to 175th in the world after wrist surgery and an ankle injury kept her out of action for most of 2024. Completing the squad are Keothavong’s likely first-choice doubles pairing of Harriet Dart and specialist Olivia Nicholls, who has been in fine form, recently reaching the women’s doubles final in Indian Wells.

Their opponents this week are both solid teams without any particular standout names (a separate issue the BJK Cup faces is how to attract and keep those top names in the tournament, with world No 3 Jessica Pegula and former top-tenner Danielle Collins both withdrawing from the US team at late notice this week). Eva Lys, who shot to fame with her run to the fourth round of the Australian Open in January as a lucky loser, and seemed as if she couldn’t quite believe the whole experience wasn’t a mad dream, leads the line for Germany. 70th-ranked Suzan Hermans, two places below Lys, is the Netherlands’ highest-ranked singles player.

The Dutch have a particular threat in doubles specialist and highest-ranked player Demi Schuurs, who was one-half of the team responsible for denying Nicholls a maiden WTA 1000 title in Indian Wells last month. Germany have the tricky, crafty duo of veteran Tatjana Maria and BJK Cup stalwart Laura Siegemund, the latter out for revenge after a 6-1, 6-2 hammering by Boulter in the Finals six months ago.

The GB camp have looked in high spirits during their training in the Hague this week (Getty Images for LTA)

But the pressure is on GB as the favourites, and even with that tag, the joy – and the frustration – of the Billie Jean King Cup is that it often doesn’t go to form, or according to expectations.

Boulter has had limited match time so far this season after a foot injury at the Australian Open kept her out for the next two months, and recently lost in the first round in Miami. The absence of Raducanu is another concern, with the 22-year-old often seeming to find her best tennis playing in national colours.

She went unbeaten in her five BJK Cup matches last year, including a star turn on the French clay to advance to the Finals. At the time of her withdrawal from the squad – she opted for a training block instead after an intense spring of matches – she was also in some of the best form since her unexpected US Open triumph in 2021, with a run to a first-ever WTA 1000 quarter-final in Miami and a first top-ten win on hard courts under her belt.

GB were narrowly beaten by Slovakia in the semi-finals last year (Getty Images for LTA)

There’s also the small matter of this tie being fought, once again, on indoor clay. Notwithstanding that inspired performance in Bercy last year, it’s a surface that has proved tricky for generations of Brits. The timing of this international window, at the very beginning of the clay season, also means the squad has had little time to adapt from hard courts, especially for those like Nicholls and Kartal who enjoyed deep runs in California.

But morale should be high in the camp as they aim to put the disappointment of last November’s Finals behind them, after a narrow 2-1 loss to Slovakia in the last four. Slovakia’s whole-team performance in that victory demonstrated that a well-rounded, well-drilled team can be more of a threat than a couple of star names. GB will look to combine the best of both this week – and book those flights to Shenzhen.