Great Britain’s hopes of landing a maiden Billie Jean King Cup title came to grief on Tuesday when an unheralded Slovakian team staged an ambush in Malaga.
The force appeared to be with the British when Emma Raducanu’s victory in the opening rubber left Katie Boulter needing to beat world No 43 Rebecca Sramkova to seal a first appearance in the BJK Cup final since 1981.
It did not work out, thanks to a gritty and gutsy effort from 28-year-old Sramkova, whose recent winning streak is all the more impressive when you consider that she was born with only one functioning eye.
But as Raducanu said in the post-match press conference, there were plenty of positives to be taken from the campaign. For the first time since Virginia Wade and Sue Barker joined forces in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Great Britain can field two singles players capable of worrying any opposition.
Looking forward to next season, it will be interesting to see which of these women delivers the stronger results. Boulter has demonstrated more physical resilience of late, working her way through 61 matches this season to back up the 60 she played last year.
But while Raducanu remains an occasional visitor to the tour – and lost to Boulter when they played an epic three-setter at Nottingham in June – she has also shown a higher ceiling.
Even if we put the 2021 US Open to one side, as a lightning bolt never previously seen in the history of tennis, Raducanu has also reached the fourth round of Wimbledon twice. Whereas Boulter has played 14 grand-slam events and never gone beyond round three.
Let us look at the two women’s games in more detail.
Serve
Raducanu has been tinkering with her motion all year, and in Malaga she seemed to have found a happy middle ground. She hit 23 aces across her three matches, as against 13 for Boulter. This might seem surprising, given that Boulter is two or three inches taller and usually averages around 5mph more on the speed gun. On serve, though, accuracy tends to be more valuable than pace.
Raducanu 7/10 Boulter 7/10
Return
Raducanu’s greatest asset. Indian cricket enthusiasts have a phrase – “an eye like a dead fish” – which they use to describe a batsman who picks up the path of the ball especially early. Raducanu has a similar gift, which helps her put good serves back in court while absolutely murdering average ones. Boulter has a steady return but few can match Raducanu here.
Raducanu 9 Boulter 7
Groundstrokes
When Boulter finds a rhythm, she bangs away at the ball with rare pace and depth. Her weakness during rallies tends to be her footwork: her long legs do not supply the mercurial last-second adjustments that we see from the more agile players on the tour.
Raducanu, by contrast, is light on her feet, and is rarely found out of position. She is smaller and lighter than Boulter, after all. The downside of that difference in stature is that, unless Raducanu really commits to her forehand, it can lack penetration through the court. As a result, she can be guilty of serving up too many “meatballs” – the word coined by eminent coach Brad Gilbert to refer to a centrally positioned or slow-paced shot which hands the initiative to your opponent.
Raducanu 7 Boulter 7
Volleys
Why do British women not spend more time playing doubles? Raducanu has hardly appeared in the team format, which is one reason why she usually looks lost at the net. Boulter is slightly better, especially when coming forward on her own terms after a powerful strike into the corner. But it is a close-run thing.
Raducanu 3 Boulter 4
Mentality
You do not win a major title as a qualifier without a shard of ice in your heart. Raducanu is not immune to nerves, but when she is feeling good about herself, she has that unteachable knack of coming up with big shots at the right moments.
As for Boulter, she has shown a warrior’s heart by winning two WTA titles this season and reaching the final of another. But she needs to prove that she can make the second week of a major, because she continues to underperform at the biggest events.
Raducanu 8 Boulter 7
Physicality
I am not scoring this category, because I am wary of predicting what will happen next. Clearly, Raducanu’s one serious shortcoming is her inability to cope with the workload of regular tournaments. It seems unlikely that this will change overnight. But her recent discussions with the highly respected Yutaka Nakamura – as reported by Telegraph Sport earlier this month – have raised hopes that she might invest in her body by hiring a full-time trainer.
As for Boulter, her reliable presence at all the big events is a relatively recent phenomenon. She was hindered by a number of issues in her younger days, including the chronic fatigue that plagued her late teens, and the spinal-stress fracture that sidelined her for much of 2019. It is only in the last couple of years that she has developed faith in her ability to stay fit. From there, she has made a surge up the rankings, and this in turn has helped her look after her body better, as the leading WTA events supply superior facilities, including a well-staffed physio room.
Verdict
Raducanu 34 Boulter 32
Where Boulter is a route-one tennis player who has only one style – bash the door down with heavy, consistent hitting – Raducanu is more athletic, more imaginative and simply more talented. She has a higher ceiling, based on a wider variety of shots and a certain coldness under pressure, and she has proved it with her superior performances at the majors.
What she has not achieved yet, at 22, is the physical robustness required to play matches and tournaments back to back. Having said that, Boulter is 28 and has only come into her physical prime in the last couple of years. So if Raducanu keeps building her strength – and, crucially, invests in a full-time fitness trainer – there is reason to hope that she could become a serious factor on the tour.
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