The Billie Jean King Cup, successor to the Fed Cup, will be decided in a final tournament in Glasgow starting Tuesday. Twelve teams fight in four groups for the pool victory, which entitles them to advance to the semi-finals. The world number one, Iga Swiatek, is not included. The Pole had canceled because of the bad scheduling, because the competition begins just one day after the final of the WTA Finals in Texas.
While Austria’s women compete in the play-off against Latvia in the Schwechater Multiversum on Friday and Saturday, the big money is at stake. A total of 11.4 million dollars will be distributed to the players and associations. Thanks to an additional sponsorship partnership, the same amount of prize money as in the Davis Cup can be paid out for the first time. The winning team will receive a check for $2,197,500.
Record winner USA is not seeded due to the Nations Cup rankings, but they are favourites. The 18-time champion has the current numbers three and four in the WTA ranking, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, on the team. Only these two are from the top ten in Glasgow. The USA meet the Czech Republic and Poland in Pool D, the latter without Swiatek.
Swiss women number one
In the absence of defending champion Russia, who is excluded from the competition because of the invasion of Ukraine, last year’s finalist Switzerland is top seeded. Led by Olympic champion Belinda Bencic (WTA-13.), who can always step up a gear in competitions for her country, the Swiss will meet Canada and Italy in Group A.
Spain are arguably the best cards in Group C, also with current number 12 Paula Badosa making her debut. However, like last year, Garbine Muguruza is missing. Spain meets Kazakhstan and hosts Great Britain. The latter have to do without the ex-US Open winner Emma Raducanu, who is still suffering from a wrist injury.
In Group B, Australia, Belgium and Slovakia have something in common. All three teams should have played a qualifying round in April, but the decision to exclude Russia and Belarus from all team competitions saw all three through to the final tournament without a fight.
