Emma Raducanu could be ineligible to compete at the Olympics next year if she doesn’t represent Britain at the Billie Jean King Cup.
Emma Raducanu could find herself unable to compete at next year’s Olympics despite claiming she would “love to” play.
The country’s top-ranked woman has not represented the national team for almost a year. After making herself “unavailable” for next month’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifier tie, Raducanu is running out of chances to make herself eligible for Paris 2024.
Raducanu recently discussed her Olympic dream after she wasn’t named in Britain’s BJK Cup squad for the upcoming qualifier tie against France. The world No 72 said she was “unavailable”, leaving captain Anne Keothavong to select the same squad that played in November.
It came after the 20-year-old said she “didn’t know” when the tie was taking place. But Raducanu’s second successive absence from the BJK Cup team could ruin her hopes of playing in next year’s Olympic Games.
In order to be eligible for the upcoming Olympics, a player must represent their national team at least twice in the four years between each edition. And the time frame has been reduced to three years for the upcoming games in Paris with the Tokyo Olympics previously being postponed to 2021.
