Billie Jean King Cup 2021: Barty, Sabalenka, Pliskova are missing - who is there?
The new Billie Jean King Cup will take place for the first time from November 1 to 6, 2021 - but seven players are missing from the top 10. But who is playing?
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Oct 05, 2021, 07:10 am
The Billie Jean King Cup (formerly Fed Cup) is being held as a weekly event for the first time since the 1990s, similar to the new Davis Cup format. After the corona-related failure, they meet in Prague at short notice: four groups of three teams, each against each other, the first in the group then play the semi-finals. And the winners the final.
The nominations were out yesterday, Germany competes with Angelique Kerber, Andrea Petkovic, Anna-Lena Friedsam and the two youngsters Jule Niemeier and Nastasja Schunk, in the group games it’s against the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
And especially among the Czech women, two prominent names are missing: those of Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova - even if Barbora Krejcikova, Marketa Vondrousova and Co. are still very strong.
Seven top 10 players are missing
Nevertheless, the lack of some top talent is noticeable: Australia competes without Ashleigh Barty (WTA No. 1) - Indian Wells had already canceled her and coach Tyzzer questioned the WTA finals. No wonder: Barty was on tour for months and is now finally back home, it is easy to imagine that it will stay that way until the start of the 2022 season. Aryna Sabalenka (WTA No. 2) is missing from her colleagues from Belarus, Pliskova (WTA No. 3) is missing from the Czechs. And Iga Siwatek (WTA No. 4) might like to, but Poland will not be in the final of the top 12 teams. Elina Svitolina (WTA No. 7) is also missing from the top ten, because Ukraine is also missing, Sofia Kenin (WTA No. 8) for the USA and Maria Sakkari (WTA No. 9) - Greece is also missing .
However, Krejcikova (WTA No. 5) for the Czech Republic, Garbine Muguruza (WTA No. 6) for Spain and Belinda Bencic (WTA No. 10) are at the start.
Billie Jean King Cup: These players are nominated
| Group A France (1) | Caroline Garcia | Alize Cornet | Clara Burel | Fiona Ferro | |
| Russia | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | Daria Kasatkina | Veronika Kudermetova | Liudmila Samsonova | |
Canada | Leylah Fernandez | Rebecca Marino | Francoise Abanda | Gabriela Dabrowski | |
| Group B Australia (2) | Ajla Tomljanovic | Astra Sharma | Storm Sanders | Ellen Perez | Olivia Gadecki |
| Belarus | Victoria Azarenka | Aliaksandra Sasnovich | Olga Govortsova | Yuliya Hatouka | Lidziya Marozava |
| Belgium | Elise Mertens | Alison van Uytvanck | Greet Minnen | Maryna Zanevska | Kirsten Flipkens |
| Group C USA (3) | Jessica Pegula | Danielle Collins | Sloane Stephens | CoCo Vandeweghe | Carolina Dolehide |
| Spain | Garbine Muguruza | Paula Badosa | Sara Sorribes Tormo | Nuria Parrizas-Diaz | Carla Suarez Navarro |
| Slovakia | Anna Karolina Schmiedlova | Kristina Kucova | Viktoria Kuzmova | Rebecca Sramkova | Tereza Mihalikova |
| Group D Czech Republic (4) | Barbora Krejcikova | Marketa Vondrousova | Tereza Martincova | Katerina Siniakova | Lucie Hradecka |
| Germany | Angelique Kerber | Andrea Petkovic | Anna-Lena Friedsam | Jule Niemeier | Nastasja Schunk |
| Switzerland | Belinda Bencic | Jil Teichmann | Viktorija Golubic | Stefanie Vögele |