Emma Raducanu under huge pressure this week after Jack Draper injury setback | Tennis | Sport

Emma Raducanu will be under pressure to deliver for Team GB at this week’s United Cup without Jack Draper alongside her. The former US Open champion will fly the British flag alongside Billie Harris, Katie Swann, Neal Skupski and Olivia Nicholls. Raducanu will begin her campaign with a singles match against Naomi Osaka before facing Maria Sakkari in her second outing.

Draper was initially named as part of the British squad for the United Cup, but has since withdrawn from the tournament due to an injury. He has not played since the US Open at the end of August, when he withdrew from a second-round match against Zizou Bergs due to an arm problem. He has also pulled out of the upcoming Australian Open.

It leaves Raducanu as by far the highest-profile player representing Team GB at this week’s tournament. She will carry the nation’s hopes as they head into the United Cup with ambitions of lifting the trophy.

Mingge Xu and Lloyd Glasspool were also named in the initial squad, but have since dropped out and been replaced by Swann and Skupski.

No official replacement has been announced for Draper, but Harris is now the top men’s singles player and will face Shintaro Mochizuk in Team GB’s opening match against Japan.

Raducanu, meanwhile, has been preparing for the new season in her hometown of Bromley. She has kept herself busy by learning Spanish, which she has been speaking with her coach Francisco Roig, in addition to French.

Speaking before jetting to a training block in Barcelona, she said: “I think it helps me big time. It just gives me something to occupy my brain with.

“I would say I may be prone to overthinking, and my brain will just keep going if I don’t give it something to think about, so having these subjects that I’m studying, it does remind me of when I was younger and I was juggling two things.

“I’m putting deadlines on myself to achieve certain things, and having homework to do. It’s like all very nostalgic, but in a good way.”

Explaining her decision to stay in the UK rather than spending her free time in a warmer climate, Raducanu said: “I was obviously toying with the idea when I finished, like, ‘Am I going to go somewhere? Am I going to have a holiday?’

“I did want to have a holiday, but then I came back home, and I was like, I’m not leaving. Like, I’m just so settled. I’ve barely been in the UK this year because I’ve been competing so much.

“I think just spending really good quality time with my parents has been so nice. I have loved just being in Bromley. It just reminds me of when I was a younger kid, and it’s the same bedroom, same everything.

“Bromley has some amazing speciality coffee shops now, like a few years ago, that didn’t exist, but now it is the place for coffee and I’ve been trying to try every new spot.

“It’s been really nice, and obviously so much greenery, and it’s been fun, actually. I’ve been commuting on the train so I’ve been part of rush hour every day, which has also been an experience, but it’s like my switch off.”