Billie Jean King Cup Finals squads: Iga Swiatek will represent Poland, no Coco Gauff for U.S.
World No. 2 Iga Swiatek will join Poland’s squad for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals after initially planning to miss the event, which will take place from November 13-20 November in Malaga, Spain.
Swiatek was left out of the Poland squad when the 12 teams in the event announced their line-ups on Monday September 16, but she has since missed tournaments in Beijing and Wuhan, China while replacing coach Tomasz Wiktorowski with Wim Fissette. Swiatek will thus be fresher than expected for the event, which immediately follows the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which run from November 2 until November 9.
“See you in Malaga! I’m happy to announce that I will play in the BJKC Finals,” Swiatek wrote on X, Tuesday 22 October.
“I’m glad that I’ll play for my country and proudly represent Poland.”
In a 2023 Instagram post announcing her decision to skip the BJK Cup, Swiatek described having to travel from Cancun, Mexico to Glasgow, Scotland in a 12-hour window as “not safe for our health.” She won that year’s WTA Finals, thrashing Jessica Pegula in the final.
Swiatek is already qualified for this year’s event in Saudi Arabia alongside world No. 3 Coco Gauff, who will not represent the United States.
U.S. Open finalist Pegula, who rose to No. 5 in the ranking points ‘race’ to the Tour Finals by reaching the final in New York and subsequently qualified, will lead Team USA; Emma Navarro, who narrowly missed out on WTA Finals qualification, is not in the squad.
Barbora Krejcikova, the Wimbledon champion, will not represent the Czech Republic. Krejcikova is eligible for a place in Saudi Arabia thanks to her winning the third major of the year, even though she did not finish inside the top eight players by ranking points accrued in 2024.
