Glasgow was chosen to host the 2022 Billie Jean King Cup Finals. This means that Great Britain will be hosting.
Anne Keothavong’s women’s tennis team was initially set to be eliminated from the Women’s World Cup of Tennis after being defeated by the Czech Republic in an April qualifier.
The 12-team event will take place at Emirates Arena from 8-13 November.
Keothavong stated, “This is an incredible opportunity to raise the profile of women’s tennis and focus attention upon women’s sports.”
“The whole team is thrilled to play in front of a home crowd, and hear some loud support throughout the week.”
Keothavong said that it is “perfectly comfortable” for her, and that they will be able now to compete in a competition that they have been eliminated from.
It is what it is. She said that it was just the nature and circumstances of the competition. “The fact that we are willing hosts, which allows us to be one 12 team in Glasgow, is something I see as a positive.”
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Emma Raducanu, the US Open champion, made her debut against the Czechs in this year’s competition. She won one match and lost the other.
The finals will see Great Britain joined by Australia, Belgium and Canada.
The four groups will be divided into three round-robin rounds, with the winners of each group qualifying for the semi-finals.
Russia is currently the champion but they cannot participate because they have been suspended from international events due to their nation’s invasion in Ukraine.
LTA, the British tennis governing body, stated that it hopes to extend the hosting agreement and move the Finals across the country.
Glasgow was also selected as one of four host countries for the group stages at the Davis Cup Finals in March. This is the men’s equivalent to the Billie Jean King Cup.
This Scottish city hosted many Davis Cup ties. Two of them were in 2015, when Great Britain won the title.
The finals of the international women’s tennis competition, formerly known as the Fed Cup, are being played in Britain for the first time since 1991.
Chris Pollard, LTA’s digital director and events director, stated that “our desire with the Davis Cup was to take it on a roadshow through Britain.”
“And our mutual vision is for the Billie Jean King Cup finals to extend that to three years and to see if we can put in the right model so it’s possible to host it in other British cities.”
Analyse
Russell Fuller, BBC tennis correspondent
The record of Glasgow’s Emirates Arena as a Davis Cup host is excellent. However, if the contract can be extended, other parts in the UK could also benefit.
November’s capacity will be approximately 8,000. The LTA promises “affordable, accessible ticket prices”.
It is not yet clear how many top players from around the globe will attend the event. Therefore, imaginative pricing will be necessary to sell some of the less attractive ties.
Many people will not like the idea of being able to win a contest you’ve already lost.
However, this was out of the LTA’s hands and it is a great opportunity to show women’s tennis beyond the traditional summer window.
