SHENZHEN/WASHINGTON, September 21, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)
Two-time defending champion Italy is the team to beat at the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals, which begins Tuesday in Shenzhen, China.
The women’s World Cup of Tennis this year welcomes Italy, Belgium, China, Czechia, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Spain and Ukraine to the Shenzhen Bay Sports Centre Arena.
The eight teams featured in the Finals will compete in a knockout format, starting with the quarterfinals. Czechia, which has won 11 BJK Cup titles, and Great Britain begin the last-eight competition on Tuesday evening.
Play continues with Kazakhstan versus Spain on Wednesday, and wraps up with Belgium against Ukraine Thursday afternoon and Italy opposing China Thursday evening.
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Then, the semifinals will be played on Friday and Saturday evenings. The final will take place on Sunday evening.
The BJK Cup format for each tie consists of two singles matches followed by a doubles match – all played on one day. Matches are best-of-3 tie-break sets, with regular ad scoring. The first nation to win two matches clinches the tie.
While Italy is anchored by Jasmine Paolini in singles and by Paolini and Sara Errani in doubles – and a strong case can be made as to why the Italians should be favored to make it a three-peat in Shenzhen – Czechia may the team that can keep Italy from winning the BJK Cup three-straight times. The two European nations are on opposites sides of the bracket and could meet in Sunday’s championship final.
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The Czech team is talented and deep. It includes Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova, Wimbledon finalist Karolina Muchova, double-career Grand Slam doubles champion Katerina Siniakova and top-30 talent Sara Bejlek and Marie Bouzkova. Although the Czechs have not won the BJK Cup since 2018 – and failed to qualify for last year’s Finals – they have the players to win it all this year.
Among other stars in Shenzhen, Ukraine is led by Elina Svitolina, Great Britain features Katie Boulter, Belgium has Hanne Vandewinkel, Zheng Qinwen leads China, Spain includes Cristina Bucsa and Kazakhstan features Yulia Putintseva, after US Open champion Elena Rybakina withdrew due to injury.
Noskova, Czechs downplay favorite status
Although World No. 6 Noskova is the top-ranked player featured in Shenzhen – and is one of only four players in the WTA Top 20 – it’s something she downplayed during her team’s pre-tournament news conference on Monday.
“It’s all about the team competition. It doesn’t really matter whose singles ranking is what,” she said. “Obviously, I worked my whole year to get where I am. But this is a team competition, so every point in every match counts.”
Noskova added: “We’re happy that we can be here as a team and fight for our country, as we always do. This week is a little bit more important.”
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Czech team captain Barbora Strykova tried to downplay Czechia’s pre-tournament favorite status. “Well, definitely we are not thinking about that we are the favorites because to play team competition like Billie Jean King Cup,” she said. “Everybody can play good and everybody can be in a great form.
“To play for your country, for the people at home, it’s really different. You can play amazing tennis even though you don’t feel really well.
“Yeah, maybe on the paper we are the favorites. Tomorrow we are playing our first match, which is going to be very hard one. It’s going to be a big battle on the court. We have to just focus on that and then we go from then on.”
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Great Britain’s Keothavong: “No simple matches here …”
Meanwhile, Great Britain team captain Anne Keothavong said her team, which has finished runners-up four times (most recently in 1981), is excited to play Czechia on Tuesday.
“We’re all excited about the tie ahead against the Czechs tomorrow,” she said. “Yeah, it goes without saying we know it’s going to be a tough one. Quite frankly, if you make the Finals, every match you play is going to be a tough one. Yeah, no simple matches here for anyone.”
Katie Boulter wears the 🇬🇧 with pride every single time.
Great Britain face Czechia on September 22 at the #BJKCup Finals 🏆 pic.twitter.com/9CNgYAU3Cp
— Billie Jean King Cup (@BJKCup) September 15, 2026
For Katie Boulter, it’s always a privilege to be a part of this team. “I think it was a tremendous effort from all the girls that are sat here now at the start of the year,” she said. “To be back on this team, it means so much to me.
“These are the weeks I live for. I play my heart out in these ones. … We are up against it, but I’m very, very excited for this tie.”
Boulter’s teammate, Harriet Dart, added: “I think as a team, we’ve performed really well over the years. I think even though the matchup on paper here is pretty rough for us, at the same time I know how well this team can play. We have strong belief within ourselves and within our own team that we can do well in this competition.”
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By the numbers
A total of 13 nations have won the Billie Jean King Cup title. Four of them are competing in this year’s competition: Belgium, Czechia, Italy, Spain.
“Quotable …”
“I think for all of us, as we play individual sport, all the year basically we play for ourselves. This week is very special that we play side by side, we play as a team, we have the same goal. I think for me, that’s very different dynamic. I love it. I love to represent Czech Republic alongside these girls.”
– Karolina Muchova of Czechia, during her team’s pre-tournament news conference on Monday, on what it means to be part of a team.
