Billie Jean King Cup: Great Britain prospects 'difficult to gauge' with France tie looming in 2023

Great Britain's run to the semi-finals of this year's Billie Jean King Cup was unconventional - and their prospects in 2023 are equally hard to gauge.

On the face of it, they will have to beat France - spearheaded by world number four Caroline Garcia - in a home tie in April just to qualify for next year's 12-team Finals.

But losing to the Czech Republic in this year's qualifying round in Prague did not ultimately matter, as the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) later won the rights to host the Finals in Glasgow.

History could end up repeating itself, as the LTA are keen to bring more events to the UK away from the traditional summer window.

And what do we make of the team itself? They lost three of the four ties they played this year, but ended on a high with a 3-0 win over Spain to reach the semi-finals and then suffered the narrowest of defeats by Australia in a deciding doubles tie-break.

Like the team, Harriet Dart seems to be on the up.

Her victory over Spain's former world number two Paula Badosa in Glasgow was a third top-20 scalp of the season, following wins over Elina Svitolina at Indian Wells and Daria Kasatkina at the US Open.

British number two Dart is 98th in the WTA world rankings and Emma Raducanu - who will be keen to resume her BJK Cup career next season after missing this week's event with a wrist injury - is currently 75th.

Those are not the sort of numbers to strike fear into opponents, although of course Raducanu showed what she was capable of when she won the 2021 US Open at the age of just 18.

Katie Swan, Katie Boulter, Jodie Burrage and Heather Watson are all within striking distance of the top 100, so captain Anne Keothavong will hope to have some difficult decisions to make in the years ahead.

The emergence of a specialist doubles pair also increases her options.

Alicia Barnett and Olivia Nicholls began the year in Bath by earning $180 (£152) each for a semi-final appearance at one of the ITF World Tour's smallest tournaments.

They were barely ranked inside the top 200, but now finish the year as the 25th best pair on tour, having won a first WTA title in Granby, Canada, in August.

The duo thrived amid the pressure and atmosphere of the BJK Cup Finals and have now set themselves the goal of qualifying for next year's end-of-season eight-team WTA Finals.

Nicholls is 28, and Barnett 29, but feel they are just getting started.

"I think we are both great examples that you don't have to go pro at the age of 16, 17 or 18," said Nicholls.

"I didn't start my professional career until I finished university. I went to Loughborough. Lissy went to an American university. I think the time we had at university really allowed us to develop as players, as people.

"Then when we did come out onto the tour, we weren't tired. We were fresh, ready to go. Maybe some might get burnt out at the age of 22 or 23.

"We are veterans, as it were, but especially in doubles, who's to say we couldn't have another 10 years on the tour?"

The hosts of next year's Finals will be decided over the coming months. The International Tennis Federation will hope a range of serious contenders come forward, but the reality is the LTA faced little opposition this year.

The ITF says it is "currently reviewing a number of proposals" to host the Finals from 2023 onwards and will make a final announcement early next year.

And only then will they decide whether a host nation due to participate in the qualifying round will still have to fulfil that tie.

The LTA did not have to pay a rights fee this year, but ticket revenue would not have come close to covering the staging costs, with a total attendance of 13,100 over the six days.

But their mission is to grow the game and they have tens of millions of pounds of Wimbledon profits to invest each year.

A longer deal to take the women's World Cup of tennis around the country certainly appeals, but first the accountants need to run an eye over the balance sheet.

"We are very grateful to the LTA for investing in this competition. Without that, we wouldn't have had the opportunity here this week," said Keothavong.

"The way the players have conducted themselves and approached each match shows how much they want it and how much they are ready to perform."