Emma Raducanu and team-mates hope Britain’s challenge does not slide away

Emma Raducanu has already sacrificed her toenails in the Great Britain cause as she prepares for another new experience in Prague.

The US Open champion will lead her nation in the Billie Jean King Cup play-off against the Czech Republic over the next couple of days, with a place in the finals week later this year at stake.

The Czechs are missing a number of leading players but have a formidable record in the competition formerly known as Fed Cup while Raducanu will not just be making her senior Great Britain debut but also playing her first professional match on clay.

She spent a week on the surface in Italy prior to travelling to Prague and her feet are suffering from the sliding needed to thrive on clay but, whatever happens here, the 19-year-old is optimistic for the future.

Raducanu said: “This is going to be my first professional match on clay so I’m definitely learning. I feel this could be one of my strongest surfaces going forward but of course it’s early days right now.

“I feel like I have got a lot more potential physically. And I do enjoy sliding. So, after spending more time on this surface, I’m sure I’ll time it better and learn more about the surface but also just the time that the clay brings. I feel like I can really use it and and play aggressive.”

Already without French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova, Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova, world doubles number one Katerina Siniakova – who won a marathon contest with Raducanu in Miami last month – was a late withdrawal for the Czechs through injury.

Raducanu will therefore take on 50th-ranked Tereza Martincova at the historic Cseky Lawn Tennis Club in the middle of the Vltava river on Friday after British number two Harriet Dart has opened the tie