Tennis

'Grand Slam tennis nation like Britain should have far more top-100 players'..By Russell Fuller

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Great Britain have never won the Billie Jean King Cup, despite playing every single year since the women's team competition began in 1963.

That they did not win this year is no surprise at all.

Harriet Dart and Katie Boulter played some excellent tennis in Coventry last weekend, but a team fielding singles players with rankings of 138 and 154 was never likely to prosper against a side of France's quality - and this was only the qualifying round for the 12-team Finals.

There was admittedly no Emma Raducanu - who is currently 68 in the rankings but will forever be a Grand Slam champion.

What she achieved in New York in September 2021 was so spectacular that it has the potential to drive interest in the sport for at least a decade. She is, though, Britain's only female top-100 singles player, and there are no doubles players anywhere inside the world's top 50.

The numbers are healthier on the men's side in both singles and doubles, and British tennis has hit the ultimate high on multiple occasions in recent years.

In the past eight years, there have been British Grand Slam champions in the women's singles, men's singles, men's doubles, mixed doubles and each of the wheelchair events.

But there is no escaping the feeling that a Grand Slam nation like Britain should have far more top 100 players, especially on the women's side.

"Being a Grand Slam nation is not a passport to automatic success," Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) chief executive Scott Lloyd said in Coventry at the weekend.

"The depth of international competition now is greater than it has ever been historically, I think.

"But here in Britain, our competitive set is football, rugby, cricket: it isn't actually necessarily the tennis association in the Czech Republic.

"We have to get young players playing tennis rather than football, rugby, cricket and other things that they have huge wealth of opportunity to access. So the funds available to the LTA relative to the funds available to another tennis association somewhere else isn't always the immediate comparison."

The LTA received £42.43m in funding from Wimbledon last year. There are a total of five British men and women in the world's top 100, and if we are to compare the UK with the other Grand Slam nations, then Australia has eight, France has 14 (but no Grand Slam singles champion for nearly a decade) and the United States 28.

What is the LTA doing to try to drive up that number?

At the bottom of the pyramid, there is the investment in public tennis courts - to try to encourage you and me to play more often.

Helped by government investment of £22m, and £8.5m of the LTA's own money, Lloyd says he expects about 2,000 courts - which were considered either unplayable or in very poor condition - will be brought back to life.

And at the top of the pyramid, on the development side, are the national academies - although from next summer, two academies will become one.

Stirling has encountered many problems in its first four years, and so in future all efforts will be focused on Loughborough.

Loughborough is currently home to two of the British girls in the top 30 of the junior world rankings: 17-year-old Ranah Stoiber, who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open girls' singles in January, and 15-year-old Mimi Xu.

From September 2024 Loughborough's numbers will more than double to 24. The LTA say this will ensure the best players are always surrounded by the best coaches, and will always have the best players to spar with. But with a higher volume of players comes the risk that the quality of the service provided will be diluted.

The LTA accepts it needs more players, and also more coaches.

"The coaching cohort in Great Britain, in my view, is exactly like the playing cohort," the LTA's performance director Michael Bourne said.

"Our best coaches are world class - they can impact the development of these players to a high, high level. But as we've said we need a volume and as our volume of players gets higher, our volume of coaches also needs to get higher.

"We've got women coming through. I wouldn't say we've got a good number. We have female-specific performance coach development courses which includes some mentoring from coaches who have been able to make it further through the pathway.

"Some of the barriers we are seeing with our female coaches - it's not their coaching level - it's some of the barriers that are in the environment around them, or their knowledge of how to navigate them. Not having enough knowledge in terms of how to get into roles; perceptions a female coach may have going into a male-dominated environment."

And then there is the question of fitness. Both Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper have had many physical issues in the early years of their career, while Katie Swan's and Katie Boulter's problems have followed them into their mid-20s.

Former world number one Ashleigh Barty's strength and conditioning coach Mark Taylor joined the LTA as the head of performance, science and medicine in January, and it was interesting to hear Bourne say he is currently looking to appoint someone to work specifically on the physical development of junior players.

He added: "It's not in response to [recent problems] directly. It's something that we've always focused on that we know we needed to elevate. And yes, we do recognise that some of our top talents haven't been able to stay on the training court and match court as much as they would have liked.

"It's something we want to focus our attention on, because we know we have got the talent."

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Barcelona Open: Britons Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans cruise into last 16..

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Britons Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans both claimed comfortable straight-set victories to reach the last 16 of the Barcelona Open.

British number one Norrie convincingly beat Russian qualifier Pavel Kotov 6-1 6-2 in one hour 15 minutes.

Later, Evans beat Italy's Matteo Arnaldi 6-2 6-3 to also progress.

Briton Norrie dropped just three games during a dominant display against 108th-ranked Kotov while British number two Evans broke Arnaldi three times on the clay in an equally confident display and will meet Russian Karen Khachanov, ranked 11th in the world, in the next round.

World number 13 Norrie, who won a clay-court title at the Rio Open in February, will face Musetti, who was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters by compatriot Jannik Sinner following his victory over Djokovic, in the next round of the Barcelona Open.

Emma Raducanu in big Wimbledon scare as Brit down to last two chances to secure SW19 spot..Story by Yasmin Syed

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Emma Raducanu is at risk of dropping out of the world's top 100 for the first time since before her historic US Open victory.

With the Wimbledon entry deadline of May 22nd closing in, the Brit now has just two more tournaments to try and maintain her ranking to make it into the main draw off of her own back.

Following her early exit in Stuttgart, Raducanu must have a good run in Madrid or Rome to avoid needing a wildcard to play her home Grand Slam tournament.

Raducanu suffered her third successive defeat on Tuesday as she ran into Jelena Ostapenko, who was peaking as she showed why she won the 2017 French Open.

The Latvian overpowered the 20-year-old as she fired down 30 winners en route to a 6-2 6-1 victory in just 58 minutes.

It was a tough draw for the British No 1, who reached the quarter-final last year and will lose 100 ranking points as a result. And it means Raducanu's back will be against the wall in her coming tournaments, as she also defends 120 points in Madrid.

If she suffers another first-round exit at the upcoming WTA 1000 event, the 20-year-old will fall outside of the world's top 100 for the first time since her historic US Open win in 2021.

At the time, Raducanu was 18 years old and ranked down at No 150 when she lifted the title as a qualifier.

After Madrid, the Brit will have one final chance to try and boost her ranking at the Italian Open before the Wimbledon entry deadline date on May 22.

The good news for Raducanu is that she is defending just 10 points in Rome so can try to boost her standing with a couple of wins.

There is no doubt that the former world No 10 would receive a wildcard into Wimbledon if she failed to make the cut.

But it would be a tough blow for British tennis if their most recent Grand Slam champion was unable to get into her home event less than two years after winning the US Open.

Raducanu currently appears to be stuck in an unlucky cycle of physical injuries and early losses - this year alone she has rolled her ankle in her first match of the season, caught tonsillitis and been battling wrist issues.

The setbacks have prevented her from playing more frequently, but the lack of matches appear to be costing her when she runs into a tough opponent - as she did in Stuttgart with a prime Ostapenko.

With the Madrid main draw kicking off in six days, the world No 68 has time to get herself on-site and get some practice in.

She will learn her fate on Friday when the draw ceremony takes place and will be hoping to have an easier run after meeting fellow Grand Slam champions in her last three matches.

Barcelona Open: Dan Evans beaten by Carlos Alcaraz in semi-final..

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Great Britain's Dan Evans was beaten in straight sets in the Barcelona Open semi-finals by defending champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Alcaraz, who has yet to drop a set this tournament, won 6-2 6-2 in 81 minutes.

The 19-year-old world number two will play Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final after he beat Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 5-7 6-3.

"It's so special to play a final here in Barcelona, a tournament that I love playing," said Alcaraz.

The US Open champion, who missed the Monte Carlo Masters last week because of hand and back problems, is chasing a third title of the season after wins in Buenos Aires and Indian Wells.

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Madrid Open: Emma Raducanu withdraws with hand injury before first-round match..

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Emma Raducanu became the first British woman in 44 years to win a Grand Slam singles title when she was crowned US Open champion in 2021

British number one Emma Raducanu has withdrawn from the Madrid Open with a hand injury hours before her first-round match.

The 2021 US Open champion, hindered by a wrist problem in recent months, was set to face Bulgaria's Viktoriya Tomova on Wednesday.

Raducanu, 20, is now almost certain to drop out of the world's top 100.

Her withdrawal came a day after a terse news conference in which she used just 58 words to respond to 16 questions.

Raducanu's most recent appearance was a one-sided defeat by Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart this month, after which she dropped to 85 in the world rankings.

She skipped Great Britain's Billie Jean King Cup defeat by France the week before that to prepare for the clay-court part of the season.

Defeat in Stuttgart was her second in a row in the opening round, after losing to Bianca Andreescu in the Miami Open last month.

Raducanu suffered discomfort in her right wrist against Andreescu and later said she must find a long-term solution.

The injury ended her 2022 season early and returned before Indian Wells this month, when Raducanu reached the last 16 despite preparations also being hampered by tonsillitis.

Raducanu, who has played only nine matches this season and has also struggled with an ankle injury, is due to compete in the Italian Open in Rome starting on 8th May, before the French Open - the second Grand Slam of the year - begins on 28th May.

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Madrid Open: Mirra Andreeva, 15, beats Beatriz Haddad Maia to continue stunning run..

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Mirra Andreeva, playing in a WTA main draw for only the second time, has won her past 15 matches at all levels


Russian 15-year-old Mirra Andreeva's stunning run at the Madrid Open continued with a 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 win over world number 14 Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Andreeva, given a wildcard for the clay event, became the seventh-youngest player since 2000 to beat a top-20 ranked opponent before the age of 16.

Her win over Brazil's Haddad Maia came 24 hours after she beat 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez in round one.

Elsewhere, American Coco Gauff beat Spain's Irene Burillo Escorihuela.

Gauff, 19, needed only one hour and 17 minutes to clinch a 6-4 6-1 victory and will play Paula Badosa - another Spaniard - in the third round.

Gauff, who also burst on to the WTA Tour as a 15-year-old in 2019, was the last before Andreeva to beat a top-20 player while aged under 16.

Following her impressive back-to-back wins, Andreeva will face Poland's 17th seed Magda Linette - a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in January - in the last 32.

"I'm a bit surprised to be in the third round but also everyone was telling me they are playing the same level as you, they are just more consistent," said 194th-ranked Andreeva.

"Their mental level is different but the game-level is almost the same."

Former world number two Badosa was hampered by a leg injury against Italy's Elisabetta Cocciaretto but dug deep to win 6-3 4-6 6-4 in a match lasting two hours and 30 minutes.

Germany's Jule Niemeier caused an upset as she defeated three-time champion Petra Kvitova, with the Czech 10th seed losing 7-6 (11-9) 6-1.

A Wimbledon quarter-finalist last year, Thursday's win was a second career top-10 victory for 23-year-old Niemeier.


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Madrid Open: Kyle Edmund beaten by Dominic Thiem..

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Dominic Thiem was given a wildcard for the Madrid Open


Edmund, 28, is recovering from three knee operations and has lost all six ATP Tour matches in 2023 as he continues his comeback.

The former world number 14, now ranked 498th, lost 6-4 6-1 to 2020 US Open champion Thiem.

Thiem, 29, is also gradually coming back from a serious injury - a wrist problem that ruled him out for nine months - and is 93rd in the rankings.

"I love this court, I have some unbelievable memories here, and that helped me release a bit and do better and better," said Thiem, a two-time runner-up in Madrid.

"It's time to work again on that reputation. Once I was a tough guy to beat on clay. It's not the case now but I'm feeling that I'm getting better and back to shape."

Thiem will face world number five Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.

Andy Murray beats Tommy Paul in Aix-en-Provence final for first title since 2019..

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Andy Murray won his first title in nearly four years by beating Tommy Paul in the final of the ATP Challenger event in Aix-en-Provence.

Briton Murray, 35, came back from a set down against American top seed Paul to win 2-6 6-1 6-2.

It is the three-time Grand Slam champion's first title since winning in Antwerp in 2019, and his first on clay since 2016 in Rome.

It is his first title at the second-tier Challenger level since 2005.

"This last year, 18 months, has been a bit of struggle with my game. But [my team] have been there supporting me and working with me to try and get better," said Murray.

"We keep going from here."

Fifth seed Murray took a late wildcard entry into the tournament to get more clay-court match time before the French Open, following first-round exits from Monte Carlo and Madrid in April.

After a slow start against Paul, in which the world number 17 won the opening four games en route to taking the first set, Scotland's Murray found his level at the start of the second set and reeled off five successive games.

Paul, a semi-finalist at this year's Australian Open, got on the board but Murray levelled the match on his first set point and picked up where he left off in the decider, immediately breaking his opponent's serve.

He missed out on the opportunity to go 3-0 up by failing to convert two break points, and later saw another go begging before he finally broke 25-year-old Paul again in what turned out to be the penultimate game, before serving out the match.

Victory means Murray will rise to 42 in the world when the rankings are updated on Monday - his highest world ranking since May 2018.

His win over Paul marks his third victory over a top-20 player this year, after beating Matteo Berrettini in the first of his enthralling battles at the Australian Open in January, and Alexander Zverev in Doha in February.

The French Open, the second Grand Slam of the year, starts on 28th May with Murray aiming to play in it for only the second time since 2017.

Italian Open: Dan Evans loses to Roberto Carballes Baena in marathon encounter..

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Britain's Dan Evans continued his poor record at the Italian Open after a marathon three-set second-round defeat by Spain's Roberto Carballes Baena.

The British number two was beaten 7-6 (7-5) 5-7 6-4 in three hours and 48 minutes - the longest best-of-three-set match of the season so far.

Evans, the 20th seed, had a bye in round one and has never won a main draw match in the Rome event.

He is also yet to win a Masters Series match this year.

Evans had led 5-2 in the first set and served for it but Carballes Baena, who won in three sets when they met in Marrakech last month, rallied to take a 6-5 lead before a rain interruption.

On the resumption, Evans managed to break his opponent and force a tie-break but the world number 51 always had that bit extra with the rain constantly threatening.

The second set proved tight until Carballes Baena, the world number 51, played a loose service game at 5-5, enabling Evans to break and then eventually serve out the set and level the match.

The deciding set was as close but playing after three solid service games in a row, it was Evans whose nerve failed first and a couple of unforced errors and a double fault on match point handed the win to his opponent.

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