The Slovenian women’s tennis team won the draw in London in the group stage of the final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup. Slovenia will play Australia and Kazakhstan in a group in Seville in November.
Slovenia secured its place among the top 12 national teams in April in Koper, when it beat Romania 3:2. As the lowest-ranked national team in the ranking, it was in the third drum, together with the USA, Germany and Poland. The latter received an invitation to perform.
Slovenia (18th place in the ranking) has not yet played against Australia (2nd place in the ranking) and Kazakhstan (7th place in the ranking).
Kazakhstan qualified for the final tournament after a 3:1 victory over Poland, and Jelena Ribakina (4th in the WTA ranking) and Julija Putintseva (61st in the WTA ranking) played. As last year’s BJK Cup finalists, the Australian women have not yet played this season. In the WTA ranking, only Ajla Tomljanović (46th place) is currently among the top 100. The Australian, who was born in Zagreb, has not yet played this year due to an injury, but she will return to the tennis caravan at Roland Garros.
Kraševec: Slovenia can beat any national team“As participants, we have no influence on the draw, so I had no major wishes before it. As I have said several times, Slovenia can beat any national team. Let’s just remember last year’s victory over China or this year’s comeback against Romania,” said the captain of the Slovenian national team, Andrej Kraševec.
“It is important that we are a team that breathes as one. The tournament is scheduled for November, so it’s hard to talk about expectations, but it’s clear that we will leave our hearts on the court this time as well. The atmosphere in the team is exceptional and this is certainly one of the important factors of the final success. Kazakhstan is on the rise, it has never been so high before, we are aware that Ribakina is among the best players in the world. The Australian women are last year’s finalists. Hard work awaits us, and nothing is impossible in sports,” he added.
They will play on a hard surface in SevillaSwitzerland, the Czech Republic and the USA will play in Group A. Spain, Canada and Poland will be in Group C, while France, Italy and Germany will be in Group D. From the four groups, only the winner of the group will advance to the semi-finals, and the final will be held on November 12.
The tournament will be held from November 7 to 12, and will take place on a hard indoor surface. The defending champions are the Swiss, who defeated the Australians in the final in Glasgow last year.
In the BJK Cup, already the 60th in a row, the USA has the most victories, having been the best as many as 18 times. Slovenia’s greatest success is ranking among the top eight in 2003.
Source: Rtvslo
