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Emma Raducanu’s decision to skip the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in order to play in a WTA tournament is “obviously disappointing”, Great Britain’s captain Anne Keothavong has said.
Great Britain will play Japan in the quarter-finals on Thursday but will do without their No 1 ranked player, with Raducanu instead accepting a wildcard to play in the Korea Open in Seoul.
Raducanu, who won all three of her matches in last year’s Finals as Great Britain reached the semi-finals, has set up a second-round meeting with Barbora Krejcikova on Thursday.
The 22-year-old is defending quarter-final points in Seoul and has set her sights on improving her ranking over the final months of the season to earn a seeded spot at the Australian Open.
Keothavong said the Great Britain team, which consists of Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartal, Jodie Burrage and Fran Jones, have a “real shot” at winning the title as she responded to Raducanu’s decision.
“It’s obviously disappointing, but I do want the main focus to be on the players I have and the challenge we have ahead,” Keothavong said on the eve of Great Britain’s tie against Japan.
“I believe in the players that I’ve got. How the team were able to perform in April to get us into this position was fantastic, and I see no reason why we can’t do the same.
“Players will make decisions they feel is in their best interest, but my focus is just on this team. We take a huge amount of pride in this competition and we do want to be world champions.”
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Keothavong said Britain have a ‘real shot’ (Bradley Collyer/PA Wire)
Great Britain will take on a Japan team who are without their No 1 ranked player in Naomi Osaka. Keothavong’s side qualified ahead of Germany and the Netherlands in February, with Boulter and Kartal delivering after Raducanu skipped those matches for a training block.
“I think we’ve got a real shot at [winning] it,” Keothavong said. “We are the second seeds here, having reached the semi-finals twice in the past few years and come close to going further.”