Great Britain’s Katie Boulter won her match against Caijsa Hennemann, making the tie 1-1. Jodie Burrage had a nervous debut earlier in the Billie Jean King Cup play-off against Sweden.
Katie Boulter helped Great Britain to equalize in the Billie Jean King Cup play-off against Sweden. Jodie Burrage had a difficult debut.
The 24-year-old started strongly by taking a commanding 4-0 lead against Kajsa Rinaldo Persson, who was ranked much lower. However, she then experienced a setback and lost eight consecutive games, resulting in a 6-4, 6-1 defeat.
Britain was expected to win the tie and stay in the top level of the competition. However, Sweden’s chances were diminished as their two highest-ranked players were sidelined due to injury.
And they still need to find a way through after Boulter once again showed her reliability, beating the 532nd-ranked Caijsa Hennemann 6-2 6-1. This makes the tie even at 1-1 going into the final day on Sunday. Two more wins are required to secure the overall victory.
Whether Burrage gets another chance is uncertain. Captain Anne Keothavong has the option to choose the more experienced Harriet Dart or Heather Watson.
Rankings don’t always show the true measure of success in this competition. Burrage is not the first player to struggle in this situation, but even by those standards, this was a major collapse.
She made 23 mistakes in the first set alone, often missing by a large margin as Persson’s comeback got stronger, and lost 12 of the last 13 games.
The event was a long-awaited moment for Burrage. She had been disappointed when she was not selected for the previous two teams. Overwhelmed with emotion, she tearfully expressed that this tennis event is truly unique and incomparable.
“I’m very proud to represent my country, I’m very disappointed that I didn’t get everyone a win today. That is going to stick with me for a while.
“It’s tough to take. I have not felt like this, and even the nerves before, ever, even stepping out onto Centre Court doesn’t compare to this.
“It’s so different when you’re playing for a team. That type of pressure I’ve never really understood before, and I don’t think you ever do until you do it. That’s why it hurts even more because I’m hurting for other people.”
Boulter backed her friend Burrage to bounce back. She said: “It’s part of tennis. There’s always going to be matches that we win and some that we lose and I think how you pick yourself up is what’s going to define you.
“She’s a tough cookie, I can assure you, she’s been through a lot of surgeries, she’s been through a lot of tough moments and she knows how to pick herself up.
“The girl played very, very well and we’ve got a battle going into tomorrow. They’re going to have a swing, they’ve got no pressure at all. We’re going to fight our little hearts out for it.”
Boulter is back in the top 100 this season, four years after suffering a back injury. The injury happened when she led Britain to victory over Kazakhstan at the same venue. She was unable to play for more than six months. It was a full-circle moment for her when she made it back to the top.
There were no worries about the 27-year-old’s performance in important matches. Although Hennemann played better than her ranking, Boulter managed to dominate her from the back of the court.
The player ranked 58th in the world took a strong lead in both sets and successfully defended against all five attempts to break her serve.
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