The Swiss women are the underdogs against the hosts and Ukraine at the Billie Jean King Cup in Radom, Poland. The absence of Belinda Bencic is to be compensated for by team spirit.
10.04.2025, 05:30
10.04.2025, 06:40
SDA
The former Fed Cup, the most important women's team competition in tennis, is once again taking on a new guise. On Thursday and Saturday, the Swiss women will compete in a group of three in Poland to qualify for the final tournament of the best eight nations in China in November.
However, after the withdrawal of Olympic champion Belinda Bencic, they are clear outsiders against the home team and the Ukrainians. Bencic astounded with excellent results in her first season as a young mother, but recently paid tribute to her exertions and was clearly defeated 0:6, 3:6 by Sofia Kenin in Charleston. The player from eastern Switzerland therefore imposed a break on herself.
Never just a team leader
This means that the burden will probably fall on the shoulders of Viktorija Golubic (WTA 93) and Jil Teichmann, who is ranked three positions behind her and is likely to be nominated for the singles. At least in the first match against Poland, their chances are intact. The hosts will also be without their two best players, Iga Swiatek and Magdalena Frech, on the clay court in the sold-out multi-purpose hall in Radom, which has a capacity of 5,000 and is around an hour's drive south of Warsaw. They did not give the Swiss a chance in Biel almost a year ago.
Now captain Heinz Günthardt's players are eager for revenge. "Belinda's absence is of course a big loss," admits Golubic, who won the Billie Jean King Cup for Switzerland for the first time in 2022 with Teichmann and Bencic. "But we've never had just one team leader." Or as Günthardt puts it: "No one can replace Belinda, but we can replace her together."
Fond memories of Poland
The captain not only has bad memories of Poland from last year, but also very positive ones from the last away match in the East. In 2015, Martina Hingis made a comeback and Switzerland won 3:2 in Zielona Gora after a dramatic match. Golubic and Timea Bacsinszky, who has since retired, won the decisive doubles match 9:7 in the third set. "That was my biggest emotional rollercoaster in the Fedcup," recalls the Zurich native.
The format back then is long gone. As the number of teams in the World Group has been brought into line with its male counterpart, the Davis Cup, and only eight teams now travel to the final round, six groups of three are now needed to determine the remaining participants alongside hosts China and defending champions Italy. Each match will consist of just two singles matches and, if necessary, a doubles match.
Highly motivated Ukrainians
A victory in the opening match against Poland with Magda Linette (WTA 30), Maja Chwalinska (121) and Katarzyna Kawa (156) is therefore practically a must, as the Ukrainians are the clear favorites. They are so close to their war-torn homeland with Yelina Svitolina (WTA 18) and Marta Kostyuk (25) in their best line-up and will be the second Swiss opponent on Saturday.
For the teams that do not win the group, the aim in November is to defend their place in the top category.
