Analysis
Three takeaways from Great Britain’s win over France at the Billie Jean King Cup
Off the back of a breath-taking 3-1 win for the Lexus GB Billie Jean King Cup team against France to book their place in the 2024 Finals in Seville, we break down the three biggest takeaways from this historic victory.
Raducanu’s composure proves greatest strength
One of the most impressive aspects of Emma Raducanu’s performances over the weekend was simply the level of composure shown by the 21-year-old Brit in high pressure situations.
Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised, given that she’s a US Open champion, but to come out against two brilliant clay court players, in her first matches on the surface for a year, in an away tie and to come from a set down twice, shows nerves of steel.
Her first match against Caroline Garcia was a tale of two very differing players. Garcia lent on her emotions throughout – huge highs at the start which descended into heavy frustration by the end – while Raducanu stayed laser focused on the job at hand, showing great composure and giving nothing away.
This proved to be a crucial factor in the outcome of the match, particularly during the third set, where Raducanu only continued to grow her level. She kept her cool on serve, saving seven of 10 break points across three sets and outplayed the 30-year-old French star at her own game with big, heavy ball striking from the back of the court.
Fast-forward to day two and it was a similar story. Given the level of performance coming from Diane Parry at the other end of the court and the French crowd getting on her back, it was Raducanu’s calm approach and fearless mentality that saw her through.
It would have been easy for her to fall away at a break down in the decider or after losing two match points at 5-3 before then heading to a tie-break, but nothing was going to take her attention away from her singular goal – winning.
In arguably her best performances of the season, Raducanu once again demonstrated that she has the mentality to show up on the biggest stage, against the world’s best and in the toughest of moments. The confidence that she’ll gain from this could set her up for a strong remainder of the season, with plenty of ranking points up for grabs on the dirt between now and Roland Garros.
Boulter can translate form onto the clay
After suffering an early setback on day one, Katie Boulter shook off the any doubt on the final day of the tie to turn it around and produce a sensational performance against world No.44 Clara Burel.
Speaking about her loss to Parry, Boulter admitted “I kind of lost my identity a little bit yesterday, I wasn’t going after my shots or playing like a stereotypical clay courter. I don’t have that in the bag, yet, I’m still working on it, but I have to remember that my game is to hit the ball and go after it and play big” – and that’s exactly what she did in her clash against world Burel, which saw her clock 23 winners across the match.
Boulter has built a dominant game on the hard and grass courts over the years with her powerful hitting and translated that form onto the clay perfectly in her second rubber and made the surface adapt to her game.
In her clash with Burel, the Brit was the first to concede her serve at 4-4 in the opening set before bouncing back to win nine games in a row.
With this match marking only her second clay court match on the tour, the surface is still unfamiliar territory for the British No.1. While she’ll admit that there’s still plenty of work to do to get to the level she wants to be at, her gritty display against Burel will undoubtedly fuel her with confidence going into her first, full clay court swing, including a debut feature in the main draw at Roland Garros.
The Brits have strength and depth to challenge anyone
Coming into this tie, Captain Anne Keothavong and the team admitted that they saw themselves as the underdogs heading to France to play them on their favoured surface on the clay.
What the team showed at Le Chaudron however, was that they were anything but. The performances from both Raducanu and Boulter showed just how high the level is in this current Lexus GB Billie Jean King Cup team and the potential they can reach.
Had they qualified, this French team would have been one of the favourites to go far, with a former world No.4 and WTA Finals champion in Garcia, a Grand Slam champion doubles duo and two of the rising stars of the WTA Tour at the moment – and this British team got the win in their back garden.
“Two years ago we were the host nation of the Finals and we were the wild card entry but we still made the semi-finals and that was a fantastic week,” Keothavong said in her post-match interview. “But on this occasion we’ve qualified ourselves and the players and the team have done it.”
“That’s where I believe this team belongs and I know they are hungry to go out there and perform later this year. There’s a lot to do before then but why not – it’s all to play for.”
More than anything, this victory will instil a confidence in this British team that they can go out and beat any team on their day, and many of the other qualifying nations will be taking note of this result ahead of Seville.