Without talisman Johanna Konta, can Great Britain side step up to reach Fed Cup Finals?

It’s been a mixed start to the year for British tennis.

There have been flashes from the rest of the pack. British men’s No. 1 Dan Evans climbed to a career-high ranking after some impressive wins at the inaugural ATP Cup, Heather Watson beat a top-20 player on her way to the semi-finals in Hobart, Jamie Murray reached another mixed doubles Grand Slam final and Harriet Dart came through Australian Open qualifying before losing to Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the second round.

However, there’s no escaping the fact that for the second year running, no British singles player reached the third round of the opening major of the year.

The doom and gloom surrounding that particular stat last year was in part forgotten after the heroic efforts of Anne Keothavong’s Fed Cup squad first in Bath and later at the Copper Box.

The absence of Konta for the trip to the AXA Arena in Bratislava is a particular blow. While she reached the semi-finals of last year’s French Open, no other British woman even competed in the first round of the main draw.

‘It’s obviously very disappointing not to have Jo on the team,’ Team captain Keothavong tells Metro.co.uk. ‘Every captain, every player wants to have their best player on the team.

‘Also knowing how much she’s given us over the years and how well she’s performed at Fed Cup, she really has led the way in that sense and she’s been a great example for the rest of the team. So yeah, without Jo it is going to be different.

Watson, a familiar face in Fed Cup competition, will likely be tasked with leading the charge in singles and, if required, doubles – she is the top-ranked available player in both disciplines, where she will be tasked with taking on 21-year-old Viktoria Kuzmova who is ranked nine places higher than Watson in singles and is a top-30 doubles player. Britain doesn’t boast a single doubles player in the WTA top-100.

Keothavong would not reveal her hand on who would be Britain’s second singles player, but it would be a surprise if Dart did not get the nod.

Her lack of experience on clay is certainly cause for concern. Last year, she played just three competitive matches on the surface, winning one – against a player ranked outside the world’s top-350 – and she has no top-100 wins on clay in her career to date.

Keothavong hopes Konta’s run to the semi-finals at Roland Garros – where Konta had previously never been beyond the first round – can inspire Dart to produce her best form on the surface.

‘I haven’t seen her play a huge number of matches on clay but it’s a surface she can definitely play well on,’ Keothavong adds. ‘It’s just going to take time. Whether that happens next weekend or not, who knows.

‘But again, the more you spend on this surface, the more you surprise yourself. She’s still young in her career and needs to look at someone like Jo – no one expected her to achieve what she did on the clay last year so anything is possible.’

‘Whether that takes three months, six months or next week, it’s just about finding the right person at the right time.’

Dart feels ‘a lot physically stronger, faster and in better condition’ for the season ahead and, if selected, will turn to the British grime scene to pump her up for her matches against Slovakia.

‘In the build-up to matches I listen to some music that pumps me up, a lot of RnB and grime,’ Dart adds. ‘I love Stormzy. Love him, being British you’ve got to.

‘I don’t know [if he’s into tennis]. We’ll have to get him into tennis. I like “Own It” at the moment. All his new album is really good.’

Katie Swan and Naiktha Bains are among the other options available to Keothavong, but the selection of 17-year-old Emma Raducanu is perhaps most intriguing.

Highly regarded in tennis circles, Raducanu – born in Toronto to a Chinese mother and Romanian father, both of whom work in finance, before moving to Britain at the age of two – has impressed away from the court as well.

With the left wrist injury now completely healed, Raducanu is confident she’d be ready to step up against Slovakia, if called upon by Keothavong.

‘If I was given the opportunity to play this week, I’d feel really honoured,’ she adds. ‘I’d love to represent my country. I’m pretty young so I feel like I’d play with no pressure in pretty much all the matches I play so yeah I’d just go out there and enjoy it.’

So would Keothavong have any issue throwing her in? ‘No, I’ve spent the last week on court with her every session and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what I’ve seen,’ she replies.