By Matt Hardy
Great Britain will be without a woman in the French Open main draw for the first time since 2008 after Katie Boulter became the final hopeful to lose in qualifying for the Grand Slam.
Britain had three representatives on the clay of Roland Garros last year but that number has been slashed to zero due to a lack of ranked, participating and winning players.
Emma Raducanu pulled out of the season’s second Grand Slam to undergo three surgeries – one on each wrist and a third on her ankle.
Elsewhere Harriet Dart, Ryan Peniston and Jan Choinski were among the six British hopefuls to lose in French Open qualifying.
The unsavoury statistic will be disappointing to the Lawn Tennis Association [LTA], who today confirmed a loss of £16.4m for 2022.
Part of the loss was put down to fines slapped on the LTA by the men’s and women’s tours the WTA and ATP over the decision to ban Russians and Belarusians from playing events in Britain – Wimbledon also banned athletes from these countries, leading to the Grand Slam not being allowed to award ranking points.
In further tennis news, Great Britain have been drawn against Sweden in their billie Jean King Cup play-off.
The match could see Emma Raducanu compete on British soil for the first time since her surgery lay-off.
First seed Slovakia have drawn Argentina while the likes of Belgium, Ukraine, Brazil, Serbia, Japan and Austria will all be at home this autumn.
The winners of the play-offs will compete in the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers in 2024 with losers competing in regional Group I events.
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