Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter have taken to the court for the first match of their budding doubles partnership as tennis returns to The Queen’s Club for the first time in 52 years.
The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced the inaugural WTA 500 competition in west Kensington last year, with the historic venue already playing host to a well-established men’s tournament.
Raducanu and Boulter are among the boldfaced names to have been tempted to the first running of the tournament, alongside former Wimbledon champions Elena Rybakina and Barbora Krejcikova, and this year’s Australian Open winner Madison Keys.
The tournament is also providing the launching pad for Britain’s newest doubles partnership, with Raducanu returning to the format on the tour for the first time since 2022.
But British audiences not in the capital will be unable to watch the pair in action, with the BBC forced to offer an apology after angry viewers failed to find the match either on terrestrial or iPlayer.
‘Unfortunately we won’t be able to show you this match because we are focused on Andy Murray Arena, but we will be bringing you updates throughout the course of the afternoon,’ BBC commentary announced shortly before the start of the match on Court One.
Emma Raducanu and Katie Boulter have taken to court for the first time in their careers
Raducanu has not played tour-level doubles since 2022 but has spoken of her desire to learn from her Billie Jean King Cup team-mate
The British pairing should prove box-office in west London, but their compatriots won’t be able to watch the match on television
Boulter revealed that the pairing had been born out of a conversation at the very club where they play their first match as she spoke of her excitement to partner with the former US Open champion.
‘I think myself and Emma, we’ve been wanting to play for a while now,’ Boulter shared. ‘I think we’ve talked about a lot of times, and unfortunately, it just hasn’t quite happened for various reasons. I think (for the) first week on grass, to get a couple more matches is super important.
‘I think we were actually here at Queen’s, practicing on the clay, and we decided we thought we’d come back and play on the grass together.
‘It’ll be extremely special,’ Boulter added. ‘Obviously, she’s a great player, and I’m looking forward to having the first of many more.’
Raducanu appeared equally keen to pair up with the British No1 – but admitted she will look to her compatriot for more than a little guidance due to her doubles inexperience.
‘It is exciting,’ the 22-year-old said on Sunday. ‘I really like Katie, and being on court with her is going to be great.
‘Hopefully she’s going to give me a lot of direction on what to do, and just tell me what to do, and I’ll try and execute it!
‘I haven’t played much doubles, so for me, and I’m not sure how it’s going to go, but it will be a good learning experience regardless.’
Boulter and Raducanu will also look to make deep runs in the singles draw, with the former facing off with Alja Tomljanovic and the latter Cristina Busca in their first-round ties.
But on the eve of the tournament, Raducanu raised injury concerns as she admitted she had suffered another back spasm that had interrupted her grass court preparations, less than three weeks after a similar complaint interfered with her run in Strasbourg.
Boulter shared that the pair had made the decision to partner up for doubles at Queen’s Club
The partners take on Wu Fang-Hsien and Jiang Xinyu in their first round at the tournament
Both Boulter and Raducanu will look to make deep runs in the singles draw as well as doubles
‘I can’t really predict the future, how it’s going to be,’ Raducanu said when asked about how confident she felt in her body ahead of an intense month. ‘I’ve been managing my back for the last few weeks now, and it’s something that comes and goes.
‘Overall, I just have to manage what I can take care of when these things happen. I just need to deal with it and just keep doing the right things.’
