Gabriela Dabrowski (l.) and Leylah Fernandez celebrate their victory against the Czech Republic in the semi-finals of the Billie Jean King Cup
Canada’s tennis women have won the Billie Jean King Cup (until 2020 Fed Cup) for the first time in the association’s history. The Canadians prevailed against Italy in the final in Seville on Sunday. The match was already decided after the two singles with the score 2-0 for Canada. First, Marina Stakusic surprisingly won the first game against Martina Trevisan 7:5, 6:3. Then Leylah Fernandez won clearly against Jasmine Paolini 6:2, 6:3. The new format of the competition suited the Canadians. From November 7th to 12th, twelve teams initially competed in four groups of three. The group winners qualified for the semi-finals. The game was played in a best-of-three mode. Two singles if necessary, a crucial double.
The tournament suffered from its inconvenient timing right after the disastrous WTA Finals in Cancún. Only three top 20 players took part in the tournament. Two of them – Markéta Vondroušová and Barbora Krejčíková – were in the Czech Republic team. The old Fed Cup was dominated by the Czech Republic in the 2010s (six out of ten titles). The semi-final between Canada and the Czech Republic on Saturday was extremely close and was one of the highlights of the tournament week. Krejčíková, the seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion, initially took the Czech Republic into the lead with a 6:2, 6:1 win against Marina Stakusic. But Wimbledon champion Vondroušová lost 2:6, 6:2, 3:6 against Fernandez, in the decisive duel Gabriela Dabrowski and Fernandez won against Kateřina Siniaková and Krejčíková with 7:5, 7:6 (7:3). Canada was in the final against Italy, who beat Slovenia. Martina Trevisan put her team in the lead with a 7:6 (8:6), 6:3 against Kaja Juvan. In the second singles, Italian number one Jasmine Paolini secured her place in the final with a 6:2, 4:6, 6:3 win against Tamara Zidanšek. Italy last reached the final when they won the title in 2013. Fernandez was the outstanding player on the Canadian team. The 21-year-old is currently 36th in the world rankings again, having won the WTA 250 in mid-October. In 2021 she was sensationally unseeded in the US Open final. Winning the Billie Jean King Cup with the Canadian team is the highlight of her young career.
This year’s ATP finals for the top eight in the world rankings also began on Sunday in Turin. At the start, the Italian Jannik Sinner easily beat the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6:4, 6:4. Novak Djokovic then played and with his opening win against Holger Rune, trained by Boris Becker, shortly after midnight, he ensured that no one can displace him from the position of world number one this year. No matter how the year-end tournament of the eight best professionals of the year turns out. Djokovic is number one in the world rankings for the eighth time at the end of the season. Djokovic extended his record. The American Pete Sampras was at the top of the world rankings a total of six times at the end of the year, followed by his compatriot Jimmy Connors, the Swiss Roger Federer and the Spaniard Rafael Nadal (five each).
»That means a lot to me. It was my first goal for my time here in Turin,” said Djokovic on Monday night. “I really wanted this win today to get the monkey off my back, so to speak,” said the Serb. »Everything that comes now is a bonus.«
In order to get the one win he was missing, Djokovic had to work hard. It was only after three hours and four minutes that his score was 7:6 (7:4), 6:7 (1:7), 6:3 against Rune. Two rackets also broke on the way there. When Djokovic lost his serve at the beginning of the third set after he had just managed a break, he stepped on two of his rackets so hard that they broke. In the end it was enough for success because the 20-year-old Rune lost his strength in the third set against the 36-year-old Serb.
