With the throne vacant by the sanction to Russia, champion last year in the final phase of Pragueand some of the best players on the circuit who were absent due to the elimination of their teams, the Finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, former Fed Cup, with the venue in Glasgow and the United States as a great contender for success which has not been achieved for five years.
Seven of the twenty first rackets of the circuit will be in the Scottish capital from November 8 to 13. The veto of Russians and Belarusians has lightened the cartel. Also the resignation of the number one in the world, the Polish Iga Swiatek who has preferred to close the year with the WTA Finals and not with Billie Jean King despite the fact that her country, Poland, is one of the candidates. Others, such as the Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the Greek Maria Sakkari, the French Caroline Garcia or the Romanian Simona Halep, installed in the ‘top ten’, have been left out because their teams did not enough merits to win a place in the fight for the trophy.
For the second time, the tournament will be defined with the new format that it acquired in 2020 but that was not staged until a year later, last year, due to the pandemic. Twelve teams, eight that won their place in the qualifiers, plus the finalists of the previous year, the host and a guest, play a final phase for six days for the title.
In this edition, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, Australia, Slovakia, Belgium, Spain, Kazakhstan, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, the United States and Poland have been divided into four groups of three teams. The winners of each go to the semi-finals and the winners of these go to the final.
Switzerland, Canada and Italy make up Group A; Australia, Belgium and Slovakia make up Group B, one of the most open; Spain is part of Group C completed by Kazakhstan and Great Britain, the host team; and cataloged as the Group of death, the D is full of attractions with Poland, the United States and the Czech Republic.
