Billie Jean King Cup: Spain only with the second guard
The number of nations that can win the Billie Jean King Cup in Prague is growing - because the Spaniards have now also gone from favorites to followers.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Oct 27, 2021, 02:00 pm
Anyone with the current numbers five and 13 in the WTA charts going to a final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup should actually belong to the very tight group of favorites. But if these two players, Garbine Muguruza and Paula Badosa , cancel their participation for various reasons, and the next best contender for a place in the Spanish team ranks 37th (Sara Sorribes Tormo), then it will be a victory in the next one Week in Prague probably not enough.
In any case, Muguruza and Badosa put all their focus on the WTA final in Guadalajara. Muguruza has not fully recovered from an ankle injury, she wants to exercise caution. Badosa, on the other hand, was very pragmatic: she just wanted to prepare for her first participation in the WTA year-end tournament. From a sentimental point of view, the Spaniards are of course way ahead: Carla Suarez Navarro is part of the team. And you want to give him a nice farewell career.
Barty and Sabalenka do without
While the Spanish team meets Slovakia and the USA, the German team around leader Angelique Kerber will face Switzerland and the hosts from the Czech Republic from November 1st. It could even be the best group in terms of line-up - after all, with Belinda Bencic (singles), Katerina Siniakova and Barbora Krejcikova (doubles), there are three Olympic gold medal winners at the start. Krejcikova also sensationally won the French Open this year.
The two leaders of the WTA world rankings will not be at the start: Both Ashleigh Barty and Aryna Sabalenka will forego appearing in Prague and thus a direct duel in Group B. There the Belgians could now be the favorites with Elise Mertens as the top player be advanced to advance.