Emma Raducanu will make her first appearance in the Billie Jean King Cup in two years, and she is looking forward to competing on clay in France.
The 2021 US Open champion made her return to the sport at the start of the year after a long period out with injury. She was missing for nine months due to wrist and ankle injuries, issues she needed surgeries for.
There was some concern when Raducanu withdrew from the Miami Open last month. This was due to another injury, and some in the tennis world feared serious physical issues could strike the Briton again.
Thankfully, the problem did not turn out to be overly serious. Raducanu shared a positive update just over a week ago, and she has now committed to playing in Team Britain's Billie Jean King Cup tie in France.
The home team has elected to play the tie on clay, which is not a major surprise. Raducanu told the LTA ahead of the tie that despite clay not being her favourite surface, she still enjoys the challenge of playing on it.
"I do love moving on clay, sliding, I find it very fun. It’s interesting, I think it’s different. It's not necessarily the surface that I’m most comfortable on or my most preferred surface but it’s something that I enjoy the challenge of.”
Interestingly, Raducanu's only previous Billie Jean King Cup tie was also on clay. This was in the Czech Republic, where she beat Tereza Martincova before losing to Marketa Vondrousova. In the same interview, Raducanu reflected on that experience.
“It was my first match on clay in such a long time, like four years, so I think I was very apprehensive at the start, not sure how it was going to go, but I got into it, I worked really hard. I played Tereza Martincova who’s from Czech, so they play a little bit on clay, so it was a great win for me to start the season."