2020–21 Billie Jean King Cup
Details
Duration4 February 2020 – 6 November 2021
Edition58th
Achievements (singles)
← 2019
2022 →

The 2020–21 Billie Jean King Cup was the 58th edition of the international women's tennis team's tournament and the first to be styled as the Billie Jean King Cup.

For this edition, the format of the cup was changed.[1] The main modification is the World Group taking place at one location and in one week, with twelve teams divided in four round-robin groups of three teams each, with the winners of each group advancing to the semi-finals. The series between the teams in this stage featured two singles matches and one doubles match. As the World Group takes place as one single tournament, the event has been named the Billie Jean King Cup Finals. The lower zone groups I, II and III were composed of round-robin group play deciding promotion or relegation.

This edition was played over two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic: The Finals were originally scheduled to be held 17 to 18 April 2020 but were postponed to the following year and finally took place in November 2021.

Billie Jean King Cup Finals

Date: 1–6 November 2021
Venue: O2 Arena, Prague, Czech Republic
Surface: Hard (i)

12 nations took part in the Finals, formerly known as World Group. The qualification was as follows:

  • 2 finalists of the previous edition
  • 1 host nation
  • 1 wild card[2]
  • 8 winners of a qualifier round, in February 2020
Participating teams

Australia
Belarus
Belgium
Czech Republic (H)
France (TH)
Germany

Canada (WC)
RTF
Slovakia
Spain
Switzerland
United States
  1. ^
    In accordance with the ban by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and a December 2020 decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the team from RTF was not permitted to use the Russian name, flag, or anthem; it participated in the 2021 Billie Jean King Cup Finals as the team of the RTF (RTF), and used the flag of the RTF.

Qualifying round

Date: 7–8 February 2020

Sixteen teams played for eight spots in the Finals, in series decided on a home and away basis.[1]

These sixteen teams were:

  • 2 losing semifinalists of the previous edition,
  • 7 winners & losers of World Group play-offs of previous edition, and
  • 4 winners of World Group II play-offs of previous edition, and
  • 3 losers of World Group II play-offs of previous edition, based on rankings

The 8 losing teams from the qualifying round played the new play-offs, which ranked the 8 nations that were promoted from the Regional Group I from Americas, Europe/Africa and Asia/Oceania, to see who had to play the 2022 Qualifiers and who stayed in the Regional Group I in 2022.

#: Nations Ranking as of 29 June 2019.

  1.  United States (2019 Quarterfinalist, #2)
  2.  Belarus (2019 Semifinalist, #5)
  3.  Romania (2019 Semifinalist, #6)
  4.  Germany (2019 Quarterfinalist, #7)
  5.  Spain (2019 WG play-off winner, #8)
  6.   Switzerland (2019 WG play-off loser, #9)
  7.  Belgium (2019 Quarterfinalist, #10)
  8.  Great Britain (2019 WG II play-off winner, #11)
  9.  Latvia (2019 WG play-off loser, #12)
  10.  Canada (2019 WG play-off loser, #13)
  11.  Japan (2019 WG II play-off winner, #14)
  12.  Slovakia (2019 WG II play-off winner, #15)
  13. RTF(2019 WG II play-off winner, #16)
  14.  Kazakhstan (best ranked WG II play-off loser, #17)
  15.  Brazil (2nd best ranked WG II play-off loser, #18)
  16.  Netherlands (3rd best ranked WG II play-off loser, #19)
Home teamScoreAway teamLocationVenueSurfaceRef.
 United States [1]3–2 LatviaEverettAngel of the Winds ArenaHard (i)
 Netherlands2–3 Belarus [2]The HagueSportcampus ZuiderparkClay (i)
 Romania [3]2–3 RTFCluj-NapocaBT ArenaHard (i)
 Brazil0–4 Germany [4]FlorianópolisCostão do Santinho ResortClay
 Spain [5]3–1 JapanCartagenaCentro de Tenis La Manga ClubClay
  Switzerland [6]3–1 CanadaBiel/BienneSwiss Tennis ArenaHard (i)
 Belgium [7]3–1 KazakhstanKortrijkSC Lange MunteHard (i)
 Slovakia3–1 Great Britain [8]BratislavaAXA Aréna NTCClay (i)[3]

Group stage

Qualified for the Knockout stage

T = Ties, M = Matches, S = Sets

Group Winners Runners-up Third
NationTMS NationTMS NationTMS
A RTF2–05–111–4  Canada1–12–45–9  France0–22–46–9
B  Australia2–04–28–7  Belgium1–13–38–7  Belarus0–22–46–8
C  United States1–13–37–6  Slovakia1–13–38–8  Spain1–13–37–8
D   Switzerland2–05–110–3  Czech Republic1–13–37–7  Germany0–21–54–11

Knockout stage

Semifinals Finals
    
RTF 2
 United States 1
RTF 2
  Switzerland 0
 Australia 0
  Switzerland 2

Play-offs

Date: 16–17 April 2021

Sixteen teams played for eight spots in the 2021 qualifying round, in series decided on a home and away basis.[1]

These Sixteen teams were:

  • 8 losing teams from Qualifying round.
  • 8 winning teams from their Group I zone.

Eight winners advanced to the 2022 qualifying round and eight losers contest regional Group I event in 2022.

Home teamScoreAway teamLocationVenueSurfaceRef.
 Poland3–2 BrazilBytomHala na SkarpieHard (i)
 Great Britain3–1 MexicoLondonNational Tennis CentreHard
 Serbia0–4 CanadaKraljevoKraljevo Sports HallHard (i)
 Latvia3–1 IndiaJūrmalaNational Tennis Centre LielupeHard (i)
 Ukraine4–0 JapanChornomorskElite Tennis ClubClay
 Romania1–3 ItalyCluj-NapocaBTarenaHard (i)
 Argentina2–3 KazakhstanCórdobaCórdoba Lawn Tennis ClubClay
 Netherlands3–2 China's-HertogenboschMaaspoortClay (i)

Americas Zone

Group I

Venue: Club Palestino, Santiago, Chile (clay)

Dates: 5–8 February 2020

Participating teams

Play-offs

Group II

Venue 1: Centro de Alto Rendimiento Fred Maduro, Panama City, Panama (clay)
Venue 2: Club de Tenis La Paz, La Paz, Bolivia (clay)

Dates: 23–26 June 2021 (Panama City) and 27–30 October 2021 (La Paz)

Participating teams

Play-offs

Asia/Oceania Zone

Group I

Venue: Aviation Club Tennis Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (hard)

Dates: 3–7 March 2020

Participating teams
Pool A

Promotions

Group II

Venue 1: Renouf Tennis Centre, Wellington, New Zealand (hard)
Venue 2: Sri Lanka Tennis Association Complex, Colombo, Sri Lanka (clay)

Dates: 4–8 February 2020 (Wellington)

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the event in Sri Lanka could not be held. The Billie Jean King Cup committee decided that in light of the challenges of identifying and appointing a new host nation during the remainder of the 2021 tennis season, the event would take place in 2021. The seven competing nations, Hong Kong China, Iran, Malaysia, Oman, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Vietnam, remained in Asia/Oceania Group II, and they competed in the 2022 competition.

Participating teams

Play-offs

  •  New Zealand was promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group I in 2022.

Europe/Africa Zone

Group I

Venue 1: Tallinn Tennis Center, Tallinn, Estonia (indoor hard)
Venue 2: Centre National de Tennis, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg (indoor hard)

Dates: 5–8 February 2020

Participating teams

Play-offs

Group II

Venue: Tali Tennis Center, Helsinki, Finland (indoor hard)

Dates: 4–7 February 2020

Participating teams

Play-offs

  •  Georgia and  Denmark were promoted to Europe/Africa Zone Group I in 2022.
  •  Moldova and  Portugal were relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group III in 2022.

Group III

Venue: SEB Arena, Vilnius, Lithuania (indoor hard)

Dates: 15–19 June 2021

Participating teams

Play-offs

  •  Lithuania and  Norway were promoted to Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "ITF Launches Fed Cup Finals in Budapest". billiejeankingcup.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  2. ↑ "Billie Jean King Cup Finals to take place in November at Prague's O2 Arena". billiejeankingcup.com. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  3. ↑ Fed Cup 2020: Great Britain to face Slovakia away in qualifier for Finals - BBC Sport, 21 August 2019
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