British number one Emma Raducanu withdrew from the Great Britain team for the final of the Billie Jean King Cup this month so that she can play on the WTA tour instead.
Raducanu was offered a joker for the Korea Open in Seoul and decided to prioritize this tournament to play for his country during the finals of eight teams in Shenzhen, China.
The 22 -year -old woman thinks that playing on the tour will be better for the long -term development of her game and her emerging partnership with the new coach Francisco Roig.
Roig started working on a test base with Raducanu in Cincinnati last month and was also in New York, where she reached the third round of the US Open.
Raducanu also missed the qualification ball of the King Billie Jean Cup in The Hague in April so that she can train with her then trainer, Mark Petchey in Los Angeles.
The decision is a hard blow for the chance of success of Great Britain in Shenzhen, because Raducanu won its three games in single when GB reached the semi-finals of the competition in Malaga last year.
There is a considerable anger within the LTA to the decision of Raducanu, which was relayed to them on Thursday.
“Of course, we are disappointed. However, we believe that we have a large team and we are impatient to participate in Shenzhen,” said a spokesperson for the LTA in a brief press release.
The world number 89 French French has been added to the team and will go to China next week with Katie Boulter, Sonay Kartal and Jodie Burrage.
Captain Anne Keothavong is able to bring another player, if she wishes.
Great Britain is the first in action in a quarter-final against Japan on September 18.
Ironically, the International Tennis Federation advanced the date of the two -month final to try to attract more players to play more.
The thought was that the players were more likely to play in the final in Shenzhen at the start of a series of tournaments in Asia rather than returning to China in November once the regular season is over.
Raducanu will have classification points to defend in Seoul, having reached the quarter -finals last year. But the world’s number 36 is already good attended to be among the 32 seeds for the January Australian Open, because it has no other points to defend this year.
Wimbledon Iga Swiatek champion and the finalist of the United States Amanda Anisimova are among the players on the entrance list for the Korea Open, which begins on September 15.
