Who will succeed Canada? Before the Davis CupThe final phase of the Billie Jean King Cup, the last major event in women’s tennis in 2024, kicks off this Wednesday in Malaga with a clash between Iga Swiatek’s Poland and the Spanish hosts of this national team competition.

“It’s my first time taking part”. in the final, “I can’t wait”said the Polish leader at a press conference on Monday. For her team-mate Magda Linette, “it’s never easy to face the host country. But we’re ready, we’ve already played against them”. Spain at the 2023 BJK Cup finals (2-1 defeat), she added.

With world No.2 Iga SwiatekIn addition to five-time Grand Slam winner Iga Swiatek, world number 25 Magdalena Frech and 38th-ranked Magda Linette, Polish captain Dawid Celt has one of the strongest squads in the finals. On the eve of its third consecutive finals, Poland has “experience, and I think we’ll be out for revenge”. against the Spaniards, said Celt on Monday.

On the other hand, Spanish captain Anabel Medina Garrigues said on Monday that her troops were preparing for the duel. “very conscientiously”. “Playing at home is a privilege, Andalusian spectators are a very, very good audience.”assured the player who will be stepping down from her position (held since 2018) at the end of the competition. Italy, finalists in 2023 and led in Malaga by world No. 4 Jasmine Paolini, will also be keeping an eye on the competition. The Italians have been exempted from the first round and will face Romania or Japan in the quarter-finals, two nations that should be affordable in the absence of injured former world No.1 Naomi Osaka.

Format change in 2025

As for defending champions Canada, also exempt from the first round thanks to their first BJK Cup title in 2023, they will face either Germany or Great Britain in the quarter-finals.

Apart from Leylah Fernandez (31st), Canada will not be able to count on any top 100 players in Malaga, nor on 2019 US Open winner Bianca Andreescu (132nd), whose withdrawal was made official on Tuesday.

Another last-minute absentee is the Czech Karolina Muchova (22nd), injured and replaced by Sara Bejlek (142nd), who will try to help her country win a 12th BJK Cup.

The most successful nation in the history of the competition, with 18 titles, the United States take on Slovakia on Thursday, a first-round match that looks a priori affordable for the Czech Republic. “Team USA led by Danielle Collins (11th), captained by Lindsay Davenport, reminded her flock that the United States had never won the BJK Cup before. “only once since 2000”.in 2017 against Belarus. “It’s really not enough (…) and we’re clearly here to win the trophy again.”asserted the former world No.1. Should they win, the Americans would face Australia, who are exempt from the first round.

The 2024 edition is the last before a change of format for the competition created in 1963. From 2025 onwards, only eight nations will be competing in the final phase, as opposed to the current twelve. This alignment with the format of the Davis Cup finals (the men’s equivalent of the BJK Cup) is intended to rekindle spectators’ interest in this historic competition, in an attempt to transform it into a “classic”. “World Cup of Tennis in the words of its organizer, the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

The Davis Cup 2024 final (November 19-24), where Rafael Nadal will bid farewell to tennis, will be staged for the first time in the same city as the BJK Cup final, and the ITF has arranged for the two events to partially overlap.