BRITAIN’S leading women will have an extra incentive to perform strongly at Wimbledon over the next fortnight.

While motivation for a home grand slam is usually a given, there is a battle at the top of the game in this country which is driving Britain’s main trio forward.

And, unlike in previous generations, when competition on the court often resulted in strained relations off it, Katie Boulter, Emma Raducanu and Sonay Kartal are proving that rivalry really can be friendly.

After two years as the British number one, Boulter was replaced at the top of the domestic tree earlier this month by Raducanu, the woman she had previously usurped.

Going into Eastbourne this week, Raducanu led Boulter by just a handful of points, while Kartal is the newcomer on the block, with her ranking having climbed almost 250 places in a year to 49.

“It’s really nice to see the state of British tennis getting better and better every single year,” said Boulter. “I feel like I’m extremely happy to see great people doing really good things.”

On being overtaken by Raducanu, the 28-year-old added: “Of course, I personally want to be getting my ranking moving in the right direction. I’m very happy for her to be British number one. But, at the same time, it’s going to be fun for me to chase her now.”

In contrast to her record-breaking emergence at the top of the sport four years ago, Raducanu has been making steady progress since returning at the start of last year from surgery on both wrists and one ankle.

Physical frailties remain, and an ongoing issue with a back spasm prompted her to pull out of last week’s tournament in Berlin, ending her hopes of a Wimbledon seeding.

Raducanu has shown she can pull off big results, twice beating top-10 players on grass last season, but she has the most points to defend having made the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.

“I think having Katie in front, it was nice for me to have something to chase,” said the 22-year-old, who played doubles with Boulter at Queen’s Club.

“Now I’m sure she’s going to enjoy that with me. We have a healthy competition between us two. I want to see her do well, she wants to see me do well.”

Arriving quickly in the rear-view mirror, meanwhile, is Kartal, who has not looked back since reaching the third round of Wimbledon as a qualifier last year, making it three British women in the top 50.

The 23-year-old, a former junior rival of Raducanu, also made an impressive debut in the Billie Jean King Cup this year, and Anne Keothavong’s side will head to the finals in Shenzhen in September looking to better last year’s semi-final run.

“We’re all very close and spend a lot of time together when we’re at home training,” said Kartal of the triumvirate.

“To have us three all together, I think maybe sometimes it is in the back of our heads but I think that’s a good mentality, it makes us push harder in training since you know you’ve got two of your team-mates that are trying to do the same thing.

“I think it’s really good for us to have that rivalry and it’s really good for the sport as well. I think we’re in a really good place for women’s tennis.”

While there is currently a gap after Kartal, Wimbledon is a chance for another exciting trio to start making names for themselves.

Mimi Xu, 17, and 16-year-olds Hannah Klugman and Mika Stojsavljevic have all been given wild cards for the women’s singles for the first time after success in the junior game.

Boulter believes having sparring partners at an early age can accelerate their progress, saying: “I don’t feel like I necessarily had that many people around me when I was coming through so I’m a little bit jealous of them having people to push them constantly.

“I’m looking forward to watching them and seeing them all grow.”