Emma Raducanu ready for comeback as new footage emerges ahead of France clash

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Great Britain’s Emma Raducanu is ready to return to competitive action in this weekend’s Billie Jean King Cup tie against France, as she looks to shake off her injury concerns after a challenging start to the year.

It was always likely to be tough for Raducanu to find consistency quickly after she missed most of 2023 due to injury, after undergoing surgery on her wrists and ankle.

She made an encouraging return to action in January but has had injury concerns on her comeback path, including a lower back injury that forced her to pull out of her most recent tournament at the Miami Open.

A video clip released last week showed Raducanu training with a bandage on her leg, but she has arrived in France to play for her country appearing to be in good shape, with a video released of her hitting on the indoor clay courts.

Raducanu will be hoping to lead Great Britain to victory against France, a year after they were beaten by the same opposition in the Billie Jean King Cup.

The prize up for grabs is a place in the Finals in Seville in November, with British hopes lifted considerably since their defeat a year ago.

Katie Boulter’s impressive surge in form over the last year has fired her into the top 30 of the WTA rankings for the first time, with Raducanu’s second appearance for her national team giving the Brits a strong team in Le Chaudron in Le Portel, France.

The France team will be led by Caroline Garcia, with Clara Burel, Diane Parry, Kristina Mladenovic also in the team led by captain Julien Benneteau.

The France vs Great Britain tie is part of a bust week of Billie Jean King Cup action hat sees some of the biggest names in the game playing for their nations.

World No 1 Iga Swiatek will play for Poland in their tie against Switzerland, while Naomi Osaka is set to make her comeback for Japan.

Coco Gauff has opted against playing in USA’s tie against Belgium, but Jessica Pegula will line-up for a team that will be captained by Lindsay Davenport for the first time.

Simona Halep has withdrawn from the Romania team due to injury concerns after she was initially named to play in their tie against Ukraine, that will be played on neutral territory in America.

These are the ties set to take place on Friday and Saturday this week:

Australia v Mexico
Switzerland v Poland
France v Great Britain
USA v Belgium
Japan v Kazakhstan
Brazil v Germany
Slovakia v Slovenia
Ukraine v Romania

The eight winners from the Qualifiers will book their place in the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals alongside Canada (2023 champions), Italy (2023 runners-up), Spain (host) and Czechia (wild card).

The teams that lose in this year’s Qualifiers will compete in the Play-offs later this year, from where they will be looking to earn a place in the 2025 BJK Cup Qualifiers.

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