Billie Jean King Cup to return to Great Britain for the first time in 31 YEARS as Glasgow is named as the host city for this year’s tournament… with Emma Raducanu fronting the British team hoping to ‘build the profile of women’s tennis’
- Glasgow have been named as hosts for the Billie Jean King Cup in November
- It is the first time since 1991 that the competition will be held in Great Britain
- The British team lost in the qualifying stage but will now be reinstated as hosts
- Emma Raducanu will be the star attraction, having debuted on clay in April
Glasgow has been named as the host city for this year’s Billie Jean King Cup, as the tournament returns to Great Britain for the first time since 1991.
Formerly known as the Fed Cup, the competition is the World Cup of women’s tennis and two years ago was named in honour of 39-time Grand Slam champion King, who won it 10 times in her career.
The British team, fronted by Emma Raducanu, lost to the Czech Republic in the qualifying stage of this year’s edition but will now be reinstated as hosts.
Emma Raducanu will be the headline name in Britain’s team for this year’s Billie Jean King Cup
Glasgow’s Emirates Arena will host the tournament, the first British venue to do so in 31 years
The finals will be held across 8-13 November at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, with Great Britain competing alongside 11 other countries.
Last year’s winners Russia will not be present because they are suspended from international events following their nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
‘This is a fantastic opportunity to build the profile of women’s tennis and focus attention on women’s sport,’ British captain Anne Keothavong said.
‘The entire team are very excited about playing in front of a home crowd and hearing some loud support across the whole week.’
Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Italy, Kazakhstan, Poland, Spain, Slovakia, Switzerland and the USA are the other teams who will compete in four round-robin groups of three, with the group winners qualifying for semi-finals.
US Open champion Raducanu made her clay court debut in April’s qualifiers, beating Tereza Martincova and then losing to Marketa Vondrousova. Harriet Dart and Katie Swan completed the British team.
The British team lost in the qualifiers of this year’s edition but will now be reinstated as hosts
British captain Anne Keothavong (L) and Harriet Dart (R) during the qualifying stage in April
The GB side have never won the competition and last made the final in 1981. London’s Queen’s Club hosted the inaugural edition in 1963, while Eastbourne (1977) and Nottingham (1991) have also played host.
‘We have said that we were ambitious to bring more major events to Great Britain and raise the profile of tennis across the whole year, and I’m delighted that Glasgow will be hosting the Billie Jean King Cup Finals as well as the Davis Cup Finals Group stage this year,’ Scott Lloyd, chief executive of the LTA, said.
‘The first ever finals were held in Great Britain in 1963, and it’s brilliant that the finals will be returning here for the first time since 1991. This gives us a great chance to open up tennis to more people, and create special memories that we hope will inspire the next generation of players.’
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