F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has confirmed Seville, Spain as host for the Finals of the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge.
The climax of the 2023 women’s World Cup of Tennis would take place on November 7-12 with 12 teams battling it out to take home the coveted trophy and don the iconic Billie Blue jackets, a news release on Thursday said.
This year the Billie Jean King Cup was celebrating 60 years since the global event was first played in June 1963 in London.
Last year’s winners Switzerland and runners-up Australia would be joined by the nine nations that triumphed in April’s Qualifiers: Canada, Czechia, France, Germany, Italy, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Spain and USA. The ITF has also awarded a wildcard for the Finals to Poland. Teams would compete in four round-robin groups of three, with the four group winners progressing to the semi-finals. This would be the sixth time and first since 2008 that Spain has hosted the Finals of the competition.
Seville would host the event for the next two years, with an option to extend it for a third year. Further details about this year’s venue will be confirmed in due course.
Since being re-branded from the Fed Cup in 2020, the competition has continued to develop as a bold, powerful platform for the growth of women’s tennis across the world.
The ITF has also confirmed that the Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Juniors and Davis Cup Juniors Finals would take place in Cordoba, with details of dates and venues to be announced in due course. The announcement comes as part of a wider partnership between the ITF and the Region of Andalucia which will see the region host all ITF major team events this year, including the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
David Haggerty, ITF President, said, “Following a competitive bidding process and some impressive proposals from a number of potential hosts, we are delighted to announce Seville as the host of this year’s Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals. We are very confident the city will stage a fantastic event and do justice to what is the culmination of a year’s worth of exhilarating competition in the women’s World Cup of Tennis. I am sure Seville will provide the perfect setting for the electric atmosphere of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, and I am looking forward to seeing supporters from around the world joining us for this unique occasion.
Throughout the various stages of the event this year we have seen how much it means to players to represent their countries, and I have no doubt that passion will be on show again in Seville. “We are also looking forward to bringing the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup Juniors Finals to Cordoba later this year. Both events give young tennis players a fantastic opportunity to experience the unique atmosphere of playing in a team for their country, and Cordoba will be a great setting for that experience.”
With the exception of Poland, the losing nations from the Qualifiers (Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Great Britain, Mexico, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine) will compete in the 2023 Play-offs on 10-11 or 11-12 November, alongside the seven teams that won promotion from the three regional Group I events which also took place in April: Argentina and Colombia (from Americas Group I); Japan and Korea, Rep. (from Asia/Oceania Group I); and Hungary, Netherlands, and Sweden (from Europe/Africa Group I). Serbia will take the place of Poland in the Play-off draw by virtue of being the highest-finishing non-promoted team from Europe/Africa Group I in 2023. (APP)
