British number one Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Great Britain team for this month’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals so she can play on the WTA Tour instead.
Raducanu has been offered a wildcard for the Korea Open in Seoul and has decided to prioritise that tournament over playing for her country in the eight-team finals in Shenzhen, China.
The 22-year-old believes playing on the tour will be better for the long-term development of her game and her fledgling partnership with new coach Francisco Roig.
Roig started working on a trial basis with Raducanu in Cincinnati last month and was also in New York, where she reached the third round of the US Open.
Raducanu also missed the Billie Jean King Cup qualifying round in The Hague in April so she could train with her then-coach Mark Petchey in Los Angeles.
The decision is a major blow to Britain’s chance of success in Shenzhen, as Raducanu won all three of her singles matches when GB reached the semi-finals of the competition in Malaga last year.
There is considerable anger within the LTA at Raducanu’s decision, which was relayed to them on Thursday.
“Of course we are disappointed. However, we believe we have a great team and we’re looking forward to competing in Shenzhen,” an LTA spokesperson said in a brief statement.
World number 89 Fran Jones has been added to the team, and will travel to China next week with Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartal and Jodie Burrage.
Captain Anne Keothavong is able to bring in one further player, if she wishes.
Great Britain are first in action in a quarter-final against Japan on 18 September.
Ironically, the International Tennis Federation brought the date of the finals forward by two months to try and attract more of the top players to play.
The thinking was that players were more likely to play in the Finals in Shenzhen at the start of a run of tournaments in Asia rather than return to China in November once the regular season is over.
Raducanu will have ranking points to defend in Seoul, having reached the quarter-finals last year. But the world number 36 already has a good chance of being among the 32 seeds for January’s Australian Open, as she has no other points to defend this year.
The Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek and the US Open finalist Amanda Anisimova are among the players on the entry list for the Korea Open, which begins on 15 September.
