Billie Jean King Cup: Katie Boulter leads top-four ranked players for Britain’s crucial Sweden play-off | Tennis News

Katie Boulter heads the Great Britain Billie Jean King Cup team that will take
on Sweden at London’s Copper Box on November 11-12.

The 27-year-old has established herself as Britain’s clear number one this season in the absence of the injured Emma Raducanu and is currently ranked 52.

Jodie Burrage is the only other top-100 player available to captain Anne Keothavong’s team and she could make her debut in the competition having been overlooked for April’s defeat by France in Coventry.

Harriet Dart and Heather Watson, who were both key players in Britain’s run to the semi-finals of the competition in Glasgow last November but have dropped down the rankings this season, make up the quartet.

Doubles pair Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls, who have won three of their four matches representing Britain, have been left out this time.

Britain must beat the Swedes to stay in the top tier of the competition and give themselves another shot at reaching the finals next year.

Keothavong said: “I’m delighted that all our strongest-ranked players have made themselves available for the Billie Jean King Cup tie versus Sweden next month.

“We are very excited to have yet another opportunity to play in front of a home crowd, especially at the Copper Box Arena, where the fans were so instrumental in helping get us over the line when we last played there a few years ago.

“Finally, being able to captain this team is always a huge privilege and to bring live tennis back to where I grew up means a great deal to me on a personal level.”

Britain defeated Kazakhstan at the Copper Box in 2019 to finally climb out of the Europe/Africa zone but the victory came at a cost for Boulter, who suffered a stress fracture in her back that ruled her out for six months.