The beauty of the Billie Jean King Cup

I’m very excited – this is the World Cup of women’s tennis and I can’t wait. It’s one week, 12 nations and there can only be one winner.

I know that not everyone can be there from their respective teams due to injuries and what have you, but it’s a really exciting time because you get players who surprise you even though they weren’t the headline stars on paper.

I remember the first time I saw Aryna Sabalenka was at the formerly known Fed Cup and I just remember thinking ‘who is this? How on earth is she hitting the ball like that’.

Last year Liudmila Samsonova defeated Belinda Bencic in an upset win to clinch the final, so it’s not always the big players taking all the headlines – it’s a team competition. Some rise to the occasion and some shy away from it. Team competitions don’t come around that often in tennis so when they do, there’s always a buzz around them and I think the majority of players love playing in them.

I think fans love it because we’re so used to tennis being this individual, gladiatorial sport where they’re used to having to pick one player or another to support, whereas here they can get together and back their team. It’s an excuse for fans to wear their team colours and be as loud as they possibly can – and they deliver! It’s absolutely incredible, even if it’s a country far away and they can only bring a few fans, they turn up and bring the energy.

Glasgow recently held the Davis Cup Finals and although it wasn’t the result that we wanted, it’s bringing more attention to the sport and to the area, which is really exciting.

Strong British team face difficult challenge

It’s the strongest British team we’ve had for a long time – but it’s a tough group.

First you’ve got Harriet Dart, who is up at 86 in the world now and has worked incredibly hard to get there. She’s been playing really well recently. Then you’ve got Katie Boulter who is around world No.140 but she just loves playing in the Billie Jean King Cup and has a 9-1 winning record in the competition. In Heather Watson you’ve got bags of experience and then whoever you take as the fifth player, you’re going to have someone who is in top form at the moment.

They have to come together and work as one unit, which I think they will.

Then you’ve got Spain, led by Paula Badosa, but she’s not the same player that won Indian Wells and made her breakthrough into the top 10 last year. However, she can be a very dangerous player and she has that that experience, which is something they’ve threaded throughout the squad.

For Kazakhstan, in the past it has always been about Yulia Putintseva, who is a fiery, battle-hardened player, but now we add in the Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. Due to there being no ranking points at The Championships this year, she hasn’t made the Tour Finals, so that’s one less thing she has to worry about, which I think is a bonus for Kazakhstan. She feels she has a point to prove still and that could be a problem for other teams.

Champions picks

You look through and you think ‘wow, there is a lot of strength and depth here’, but my top three favourites would be the USA, Czech Republic and Switzerland.

The American’s have two top 10 players in Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff and then you add into the mix Maddison Keys and Danielle Collins. If I was in the trenches, I would want Collins behind me, she yells and screams in support of her team. As a commentator you look at their team and it’s almost impossible to work out who will be playing.

The one concern would be that Pegula and Gauff will both be playing singles and doubles at the Tour Finals, so how much will that impact them physically coming into Glasgow?

Czech Republic have a great history in the competition and this year will have Karolina Pliskova back. Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova will also play in the WTA Finals doubles and although Krejicova hasn’t had the same season as last year she has finished really strongly.

My third would be Switzerland, led by Olympic gold medallist Belinda Bencic. They are a very settled team and I think that counts for something. They know what it takes to perform well in the competition and have already had a taste of reaching the final after finishing runners-up last year.

In terms of outsiders I would pick Canada. We know what Leylah Fernandez can do when she’s on it – she’s very aggressive, very feisty. Bianca Andreescu hasn’t played for her country for three years due to injury and she’s coming into form. Rebecca Marino comes in with a wealth of experience and then you have Gabriela Dabrowski in the doubles – so if they come together I think they’ll be a force.