ITF

26 Winter 2022/23 ITF World BILLIE JEAN KING CUP FINALS world champions in both the men's and women's team competitions since 2002, when Slovakia won the Billie Jean King Cup and Russia triumphed in the Davis Cup. Of course, not every talented and committed team gets to lift the trophy, and Switzerland's euphoria on the podium was Australia's grim defeat. Despite an outstanding performance from Storm Sanders, in particular in the final, the Aussies' run of heartbreak in Billie Jean King Cup continues and they have now lost 10 finals in a row. They remain in the hunt for their first title since 1974. Alicia Molik's team have several months to reset and fine tune their strategy, since as the 2022 runners-up, Australia are guaranteed automatic qualification for this year's Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals, alongside world champions Switzerland. And what of the rest of the 2023 contenders? Many nations will be hoping that this year – in which Billie Jean King Cup reaches its landmark 60th birthday – will be the year for them and will be keen to kick off their campaigns. Action at the top end of the competition gets underway in April with the Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Qualifiers, which will feature 18 nations competing for nine spots in the elite 12-nation Finals (another Finals place is reserved for a wild card). But while the battle for those spots starts in earnest in April, the pathway to the highest level of this year's competition actually began last November. While the Finals played out in Glasgow, eight nations gained their right to appear in the 2023 Qualifiers line-up by winning home-and- away Play-off ties. Those winners were added to the Qualifiers mix alongside the 10 nations who played in Glasgow but didn't reach the final. A look at the run-down of ties (shown here far right) confirms that fans can look forward to an outstanding weekend of action on 14-15 April. Players for the teams will be announced by mid March. Clockwise from top le : Czech Republic's Katerina Siniakova and Marketa Vondrousova in Glasgow; Mexico defeated Serbia in the play-offs to reach the Qualifiers; Beatriz Hadad Maia led Brazil through the play-offs; the Bri sh team at the Finals; Coco Gauff in ac on for USA in Glagow; Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina is Kazakhstan's top player; Caroline Garcia helped France advance to the Qualifiers As the Billie Jean King Cup Finals by Gainbridge settled comfortably into its new look in 2022 following its revamp in 2021, it was perhaps only fitting that a new nation would be crowned world champion of the women's World Cup of Tennis. Switzerland, just the 12th nation in history to clinch the prestigious Billie Jean King Cup title, won all but one of their matches in the four ties they contested at the Finals in Glasgow, beating Italy and Canada in the group stage and 11-time champions Czech Republic in the semi-finals before overcoming Australia 2-0 in the decider. They won all eight singles matches in the week as destiny called. The Swiss, under the seasoned stewardship of captain Heinz Guenthardt, epitomised perfectly the kind of team that always flourishes in Billie Jean King Cup – talented, certainly, but also committed, united and motivated, in this case by a devastating loss in the previous year's Billie Jean King Cup Final. Belinda Bencic, the leader of the Swiss team who added glory playing for her national team to the Olympic gold medal in singles that she won in Tokyo, described how in 2021, with the bitter tang of defeat to the Russian Tennis Federation still on their lips, she and teammate Jil Teichmann hatched a plan for redemption. "We were finalists last year and we were so heartbroken. I don't think I've ever cried so much. But in the locker room she [Teichmann] came to me and said that next year we're going to take it. And we did! I'm so incredibly proud." Switzerland had reached the Billie Jean King Cup Final twice before, their first appearance being in 1998 when the legendary Martina Hingis had been unable to get them over the line in the face of fierce opposition from Spanish icons Conchita Martinez and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. In 2022, they became the first new winner of the women's World Cup of Tennis since Italy lifted the trophy in 2006 and, with Canada winning the Davis Cup for the first time, it marked the first year there were new

• Cover