Team Great Britain captain Tim Henman believes his players have the firepower required to make a deep run at next month’s United Cup.
Leading with a formidable one-two punch of Jack Draper (a top-10 star) and Emma Raducanu (a Grand Slam champion), Great Britain are hoping to build on their quarterfinals appearance at United Cup 2025.
Both players ended this year on the sidelines due to injuries; Draper played just one match following Wimbledon due to an arm injury, while Raducanu ended her season in October with a lower back issue.
However, both are pushing to be fit and firing for their first tie on 4 January at Perth’s RAC Arena.
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“[They are] moving in the right direction,” Henman told unitedcup.com, after watching them practice recently in London.
“Obviously, Jack had a very difficult time … he's building it up. He's got Jamie Delgado now in his corner. So, a lot of experience there. He's just got to keep working day in, day out to build it up so that he's ready to be on the match court.
“Likewise with Emma, she's been in Spain a bit with Francisco Roig, and she's again looking to make sure she puts in the necessary work so that she can be ready to hit the ground running in Perth because we're all aware of the matches we've got.”
Raducanu, in particular, faces some enticing matchups in Group E, where Great Britain will battle Japan and Greece. This pits the world No.29 against four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka and former world No.3 Maria Sakkari, respectively.
Meanwhile, Draper is set to take on top-100 player Shintaro Mochizuki and two-time major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas.
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“We play Japan first, and I think all eyes are on Raducanu and Osaka. They're both US Open champions. They both love hard courts. They've played against each other before, and I think it just emphasises what a great event it is because you've got top players going against each other in the very first match,” Henman said.
“The following evening, when we play against Greece with Tsitsipas and Sakkari, two players who have been in the top five in the world, we’ve got to be ready. We’ve got to be on our game, and I think that's exciting.”
Raducanu and Draper will be joined by Billy Harris – who won his maiden Challenger title in Cassis, France, in September – plus doubles world No.1 Lloyd Glasspool, Wimbledon 2025 girls’ singles semifinalist Mimi Xu and Olivia Nicholls, a three-time WTA title winner in doubles.
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Henman is confident that if his team can manage the controllable factors, then they have every chance of claiming their first United Cup crown.
“When you look at where we are on paper, I think we've got a very, very strong team and that's what excites me,” he said.
“It's always difficult to predict what's going to happen because the strength and depth is so good. So we'll do a good job, looking to control what we can control and that's all about preparation and performance, and if we do a good job of that, then I'm confident we've got a good chance of progressing."
