GB captain ready for tough task in Bratislava
GREAT BRITAIN captain Anne Keothavong admits the odds are stacked against her side beating Slovakia to reach the new-look Fed Cup Finals.
Britain are bidding to win a best-of-five away tie for the first time after four previous defeats and face a tough task on an indoor clay court in Bratislava, with world No.14 Johanna Konta and Katie Boulter making themselves unavailable for selection.
In the absence of Konta, who is focusing on this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Britain’s highest-ranked player Heather Watson (74th) will face Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the opening singles rubber today.
Harriet Dart will then take on Slovakia’s No.1 Viktoria Kuzmova, with the reverse singles taking place tomorrow before the doubles, which is scheduled to see debutants Naiktha Bains and Emma Raducanu face Kuzmova and Magdalena Rybarikova.
“The Slovakian team are the favourites,” Keothavong said. “They have home support, choice of surface and players who have performed well in Fed Cup in the past.
“Yes, we are without our top player in Johanna Konta, but it is what it is. As captain I just have to prepare the players who are fit and healthy and ready to play in the best way possible.
“Come match day I’m confident that they’ll be as well prepared as possible and give a good account of themselves.”
Watson, who reached the semi-finals of the Hobart International last month, said: “It’s not ideal to be on clay in the middle of hard court season, but personally I actually like this court. It’s quite fast, not too slippy and yesterday I practised really well so I’m happy.
“Fed Cup is a different competition and everyone’s got different emotions going into it – you’re playing for your country and for your team and in this competition you get some interesting results so anything can happen.”
The winners of the tie will join 11 other teams at the Fed Cup Finals in Budapest from April 14-19. The finalists will be divided into four groups, with the winner of each group advancing to the semi-finals.