We break down five reasons why their run at this year’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals leaves us plenty to be excited about in the future.

Raducanu completes the year undefeated in Billie Jean King Cup matches

Before this year, Emma Raducanu had only played one tie for Great Britain two years ago against Czechia in the Qualifiers. Fast forward to the present and it’s hard to imagine where the Lexus GB Billie Jean King Cup team would’ve been without her this year.

Back in April, the 22-year-old was called up to represent Anne Keothavong’s side for their qualifying tie against three-time champions France and despite arriving with a 1-1 win record in Billie Jean King Cup matches, left the tie having clinched two victories over former world No.4 Caroline Garcia and Diane Parry to secure the Brit’s spot in Malaga.

Leading up to the Finals, question marks were raised over Raducanu’s fitness after she was sidelined with a foot injury for two months. However, the world No.58 proved an integral part of the Brits’ run to the final four and emerged as one of the shining stars thanks to three straight set victories over Jule Niemeier, Rebecca Marino and Viktoria Hruncakova – seeing her conclude the 2024 campaign undefeated with a 5-0 record.

Her final victory over Hruncakova now sees Raducanu boast the joint-highest winning percentage of any British player in singles history at the Billie Jean King Cup since the tournament began in 1961 at 86.7% - matching Annabel Croft’s record.

Looking ahead, the future is looking bright for Raducanu both on the WTA tour and in future appearances for her country, where she’s solidified her position as a player who has the talent to lead her country to a long-awaited title.

Boulter continues to challenge the world's best players

Katie Boulter has become a stalwart of Keothavong’s side since making her debut back in 2018 and has helped take GB from the Europe/Africa Group all the way to the tournament’s highest division – the Finals.

Having an established player ranked inside the world’s top 30 is a valuable asset for any Billie Jean King Cup team, let alone a player with the experience of the British No.1. The 28-year-old has been on an upward trajectory over the last couple of years on the WTA tour, with three titles and a career-high ranking of world No.23 to show for it.

Over the last 12 months in particular, the Rothesay Open Nottingham and San Diego Open champion has managed to successfully translate her tour-level form onto the Billie Jean King Cup stage, where she’s been able to consistently challenge those at the top of the game.

Take the tie against Canada for example and Boulter completely dismantled 2021 US Open runner-up and world No.31 Leylah Fernandez in a 6-2, 6-4 victory to seal the win for her nation.

As Boulter continues to grow as a player each week, and thriving in a team environment, there’s no doubt she’ll lead her country to another shot at silverware in the future.

Togetherness is a key driver for team success

Reflecting on the Brits’ time in Malaga, it’s clear that the on-court quality wasn’t the only driver to their semi-final run, but the team togetherness as well.

In a sport like tennis, it can be hard to turn a group of players who are used to competing as rivals week in, week out into teammates who share the same goal – but that’s something team captain Anne Keothavong has mastered perfectly.

Since taking over the British team seven years ago, Keothavong has deliberately fostered a sense of togetherness amongst her players, and that proved distinct during this year’s Finals.

Inside jokes, birthday celebrations and the recent bonding all proved beneficial in bringing the team together as they sprinted to the final four in Malaga without dropping a set. Every single match we saw the team bench and the support staff on their feet, rallying behind their teammates on-court and trying to lift their spirits through the difficult moments.

Speaking on the atmopshere she's created for her team, Keothavong said, “What’s important for me in this competition is that the girls find a way to gel and get on,” she said during the week.

“It’s always been important for me as captain that we do our best, and shape things up to make sure that the girls do walk away with good experience and good memories.”

Monumental progress has been made over the past five years

If we turn the clocks back five years to when Great Britain was competing in the European/African Group, reaching the semi-finals of the tournament’s highest division would’ve felt like an unattainable goal.

It wasn’t until 2019 that they finally had their breakthrough after beating Kazakhstan 3-1 at the World Group II Play-Offs to end a 26-year wait for promotion to the world group in front of their home crowd at the Copperbox Arena.

Now, to have reached the final four for the second time in three years (Glasgow 2022), is an achievement the British women should be proud of and indicates that lifting the title is not out of the realms of possibility for this team.

Their earlier upset over France combined with their performances in Malaga underlines the team’s quality and we can be hopeful in looking forward to even more opportunities to lift the title in the future.

Home or away, the fans turn up in full force

While the Finals may have taken place in Malaga, you wouldn’t know that looking at the sea of British flags inside the Palacio de Deportes during GB match days.

From their opening tie against Germany to their last against Slovakia, the stands were filled with British tennis fans wearing bucket hats, draped in the colours of the British flag and cheering the team along every point. If we didn’t know any better, we’d have guessed the Brits were competing on home soil.

Notably, the support didn’t go unnoticed by the captain or the team on the bench, who were regularly engaging with the supporters during and after the matches across all three ties.

“Honestly it feels like we are in Great Britain right now,” Boulter said following her win against Germany’s Laura Siegemund.

“Our fans are awesome, you always get behind us in the good moments and the bad moments. You always get behind us. Thanks so much for coming here to Malaga it means so much to all of us players for sure so thank you."