The Czech tennis players received a wild card for the next year’s Billie Jean King Cup, thus they have a certain participation in the final tournament. Coach Petr Pála’s team will avoid the April qualification just like the defending champion Canadians, the defeated finalist Italians and the home Spanish women. The organizers stated this during today’s qualification draw in Málaga.
This year, the Czech Republic reached the semi-finals of the competition formerly known as the Fed Cup. They first defeated Ukraine in the qualifiers, then in the basic group in Seville they defeated the defending champions Switzerland and the Americans. Only in the fight for the final were they not enough for the later winners, the Canadians, to whom they lost 1:2 in the matches.
“It’s a brutal diplomatic success. It’s an appreciation of the strength of our women’s tennis and the support we give to the competition. The first year we organized was a resounding success and the whole world is in awe of what we’ve been able to do organizationally in a very short time ,” said the chairman of the Czech Tennis Association, Ivo Kaderka, in a recording for the media.
“We have huge successes, a great team, the support of the competition and we got a wild card to the final. There is great joy. Behind the curtain, we won an incredible match,” he added.
A number of other federations were interested in the wild card, including Poland, Switzerland or the USA. “We had the upper hand in the criteria. There was, for example, having a player in the top ten, and we have three of them there. Even this wild card should be a message to our decision-making sphere that they have a diamond in the Czech Republic, which is called Czech tennis,” said Kaderka.
“It also played a role that we take the competition very seriously. I also had to guarantee in writing that we would again bring the best we have. I also guaranteed that, because I know how seriously our players take the competition,” added Kaderka.
Qualification without Czech female tennis players will take place on April 12 and 13. The final tournament will take place as it did this November in Seville.
Billie Jean King Cup Qualifying Draw (April 12 and 13, 2024): Australia – Spain, Switzerland – Poland, France – Great Britain, USA – Belgium, Japan – Kazakhstan, Brazil – Germany, Slovakia – Slovenia, Ukraine – Romania.
The tennis players face a battle with Israel
Czech tennis players will compete in the qualifiers for the next year’s Davis Cup, the men’s equivalent of the BJK Cup, to advance to the final tournament at home with Israel. It will be played on February 2 and 3, or February 3 and 4. It was decided by today’s draw in Málaga, Spain, where the elimination part will be played again next year.
This year, the selection of captain Jaroslav Navrátil fought for the first time in the new system valid from 2019 until the elimination phase. After winning the qualifiers in Portugal, they also made it through the group stage where they beat Spain, South Korea and Serbia 3-0. On Wednesday, he failed in the quarter-finals against Australia, which he lost 1:2 to matches.
This year’s finalists, the Italians and the Australians, qualified directly for the Davis Cup final tournament next year. The wild card was given to home team Spain and Great Britain.
2023-11-26 12:30:50
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