Raducanu is set to play her first professional match on the clay in Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup tie against the Czech Republic on Friday. It’s her first call-up for the squad and comes ahead of her first WTA Tour event on the surface next week in Stuttgart.
Ahead of her first match in the BJK Cup against Tereza Martincova, the US Open champion admitted she thought clay could become one of her “strongest surfaces” after what sounded like a successful recent training period at the Riccardo Piatti Training Centre before the clay swing. “I feel this could be one of my strongest surfaces going forward but of course it’s early days right now,” the 19-year-old said.
Raducanu has now played all but one of the Grand Slams in her young career, with the French Open the last one for her to make her debut in at the end of May. And the Brit believes she’ll be able to improve ahead of the clay-court Major after spending some time on the surface. She continued: “I feel like I have got a lot more potential physically. And I do enjoy sliding.
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But her attention first lies with the BJK Cup in Prague, where she is the only top 20 player competing in the Britain and Czech teams. “I love playing as a team, especially the team we’ve got here,” Raducanu said ahead of her debut in the squad.
“I feel like everyone has been a lot of fun and there’s been a great connection off court, whether that’s playing murder mystery games or cornhole, we’re definitely bonding and gelling very well.”
