The Billie Jean King Cup Finals will likely be held in Shenzhen, China, from 2025 to 2027, the Worldwide Tennis Federation mentioned Thursday.
It will likely be the primary time China has hosted the ladies’s staff competitors. The occasion was final held in Asia in 1989 in Tokyo, when it was known as the Fed Cup with 16 nations. A document 146 nations are set to compete in 2025.
The ITF mentioned the transfer helps the event’s objective of fostering cultural change, celebrating variety and strengthening connections between athletes and followers worldwide.
“Having the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Shenzhen is a dream come true for myself and different Chinese language tennis gamers,” Paris Video games gold medalist and world No. 5 Zheng Qinwen mentioned in an announcement. “This occasion displays the unbelievable progress of tennis in China and highlights how ladies’s sports activities proceed to thrive right here. I am unable to wait to see the way it evokes extra younger ladies to choose up a tennis racket and dream large.”
The premier ladies’s worldwide staff competitors passed off in Malaga, Spain, final yr, with world No. 4 Jasmine Paolini steering Italy to a fifth title. China as host and Italy as reigning champion will robotically qualify for the Finals.
“Shenzhen embodies the spirit of development and innovation that’s on the core of the Billie Jean King Cup, increasing the attain of tennis and championing the facility of girls’s sports activities,” twelve-time Grand Slam champion Billie Jean King mentioned.
Qualifying ties will likely be performed throughout six group occasions starting April 7 and can encompass three groups per group. Every three-day occasion will likely be held in a single location and performed on a round-robin foundation.
Final yr’s finalists Slovakia will host the US and Denmark in Group C, whereas Canada, the highest seeds within the qualifiers, is in Group A with Romania and host Japan. Second-seeded Czech Republic will host Spain and Brazil in Group B.
Kazakhstan and Colombia will journey to Australia for Group D ties, whereas Poland will host Switzerland and Ukraine in Group E. Group F will likely be hosted by Britain and consists of Germany and Netherlands.
The groups ending high of every group will advance to the Finals whereas groups ending in second and third will compete within the playoffs in November.
Dates for the 2025 Finals haven’t been introduced.