London | BJK Cup Finals dates and revised format confirmed for November

The 2024 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals are set to happen at La Cartuja Stadium in Seville, Spain, from Tuesday 12 to Wednesday 20 November, the ITF introduced this week, and it’ll function a brand new knock-out format to be launched this yr.

The Billie Jean King Cup Finals are going greater and higher this yr. Each season we see how a lot this distinctive and historic competitors means to gamers and followers alike. There may be nothing in girls’s tennis that comes near the thrill, power and fervour that Billie Jean King Cup creates, and we’re set for one more blockbuster week of motion this November. Conchita Martinez, BJK Cup Finals Match Director

Primarily based on suggestions from gamers, captains, followers and broadcasters, the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals will see the introduction of a revised format, changing the spherical robin group stage with a knockout competitors, just like the Davis Cup Last 8.

Plus, for the primary time, tennis followers will have the ability to get pleasure from a fortnight of World Cup Tennis with the Billie Jean King Cup and Davis Cup Finals occasions operating consecutively, with a minimal overlap.

An prolonged 9-day occasion will overlap briefly with the lads’s Davis Cup Last 8, which begins in Malaga on the eve of the Billie Jean King Cup ultimate.

The brand new knockout format replaces the group stage spherical robin competitors, which the ITF says goals to revamp the ladies’s group competitors and maximise its visibility, whereas making a fortnight of World Cup tennis in Andalucia.

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Nice Britain certified for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals by beating France in Le Portel in April.

Canada are the defending champions, and Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Naomi Osaka have indicated they are going to compete for Poland, the USA and Japan respectively.

The 8-team line-up for the Davis Cup Finals won’t be confirmed till September, and Nice Britain faces opposition from Canada, Argentina and Finland once they attempt to qualify in Manchester.

The BJK Cup Finals have been beforehand performed over 6 days, with the 12 groups cut up into 4 teams and the winners contesting the semi-finals.

Now, with this yr’s modifications, 4 groups will obtain a bye to the Final 8, whereas the opposite 8 nations compete for a spot within the quarter-finals.

The Seville occasion will start on Tuesday 12 November, 3 days after the conclusion of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which can give gamers time to journey and acclimatise to the circumstances in southern Spain.

World No 1 Swiatek opted out of the 2022 and 2023 Finals as a result of the schedule allowed her no time to organize following the WTA’s season-ending Finals staged in Texas and Mexico.

The primary 6 days of the ladies’s group occasion, although, will conflict with the lads’s ATP Finals in Turin, however the ITF hopes its midweek semi-finals and ultimate might be watched by a big viewers.

The ITF Board and Billie Jean King Cup Committee, in session with key stakeholders, accepted the 2024 dates, which have been revised to maximise visibility for the occasion, in gentle of an prolonged WTA calendar, which locations the Billie Jean King Cup Finals one week later within the season in contrast with earlier years.

The attracts for the Finals and Play-offs will happen on Tuesday 30 April at 12:00 BST (11:00 GMT) on the ITF workplaces in London.

The Play-offs, which function the 8 dropping groups from the 2024 Qualifiers and the 8 best-performing groups from the 2024 regional Group I occasions, will happen on both 15-16 or 16-17 November.

Each attracts might be reside streamed at billiejeankingcup.com .

Billie Jean King (C) watches from the stand alongside Dan Trowiss (L), CEO of Gainbridge and David Haggerty (R), President of ITF in the course of the Billie Jean King Cup Last match between Canada and Italy at Estadio de La Cartuja final November

© Matt McNulty/Getty Pictures for ITF

“We’re providing a November to recollect in 2024,” David Haggerty, ITF President, mentioned. “The primary ball of the World Cup of Tennis might be on the Billie Jean King Cup Finals on 12 November, and the final ball might be on the Davis Cup Last 8 on 24 November.

“This offers us with an important alternative to maximise viewing and fan engagement throughout each World Cup of Tennis competitions.

“That is additionally an thrilling method for followers to get pleasure from each the lads’s and ladies’s occasions and, by travelling between two cities, take full benefit of the Andalusian area

“The schedule and format for the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Finals was agreed following session with gamers, captains and the WTA Participant Council.”

Conchita Martinez returns as Finals Match Director following a profitable first yr in 2023.

Martinez performed 53 ties for Spain within the Billie Jean King Cup (then often known as the Fed Cup) from 1988 to 2004 and helped her nation to win the competitors in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998.

“The Billie Jean King Cup Finals are going greater and higher this yr,” Martinez mentioned. “Each season we see how a lot this distinctive and historic competitors means to gamers and followers alike.

“There may be nothing in girls’s tennis that comes near the thrill, power and fervour that Billie Jean King Cup creates, and we’re set for one more blockbuster week of motion this November.

“I can’t wait to welcome the world’s finest gamers to Seville later this yr and watch the battle to be topped 2024 World Champions play out.”

The 2024 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals and Davis Cup Last 8 are being hosted in Seville and Malaga as a part of a wider partnership between the ITF and the Area of Andalucia, which additionally will host the junior editions of each competitions.

For extra data and thrilling new content material together with match motion, archive footage and participant options go to Billie Jean King Cup web site or observe @BJKCup on X, Billie Jean King Cup on Fb and @billiejeankingcup on Instagram.

Tune in to look at the reside stream of the Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals and Play-off attracts on Tuesday 30 April at 12:00 BST (11:00 GMT) at billiejeankingcup.com.

Conchita Martinez returns as BJK Cup Finals Match Director following a profitable first yr in 2023

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