The Secretary General for Sports of the Government of Andalusia, José María Arrabal, attended this afternoon, at the Customs Museum in Malaga, the presentation of the national teams that are going to participate in the finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, which will be held from November 13 to 20 on a track attached to the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palace.
José María Arrabal has highlighted that the Billie Jean King Cup “exemplifies the commitment of the Government of Andalusia to bring the best women’s tennis to our land. The best players in the world are going to meet here in Malaga over the next few days, which will also represent a good element of sports promotion for the city and the community.”
Arrabal was equally confident that “the audience that attends to follow the competition live will be very large and will fill the stands with color, cheering on the Spanish national team and enjoying the rest of the countries, which will surely offer a great show to the tennis fan.” , in a competition that has a great impact worldwide.”
A total of 12 countries will participate in this 2024 edition. Canada, as 2023 world champion, Italy, as 2023 runner-up, hosts Spain and guest Czechia have qualified automatically. They will be joined by the eight winners of the 2024 Qualifiers: Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and the United States, the main favorite for victory.
Spain will start with the privilege of playing at home. With the players already chosen for weeks, a last-minute injury has caused Anabel Medina, captain of the team, to replace Cristina Bucsa with Marina Bassols. Paula Badosa, Jessica Bouzas, Nuria Párrizas and Sara Sorribes complete the cast that aims to win at home before the Spanish public.
The Billie Jean King Cup is the largest annual international women’s team competition in tennis. In 2024, a total of 137 nations have participated, which is a record. By the end of the season, 16 home or away qualifiers and 11 events will have been played around the world at the regional group level.
The Billie Jean King Cup finals offer the same prize money as the Davis Cup, the men’s version of the competition. The players will receive 9.6 million dollars for this concept. The 2024 world champions will receive a combined total of $2.4 million.
The Secretary General for Sports was accompanied at the event by David Haggerty, president of the International Tennis Federation (ITF); Borja Vivas, Sports Councilor of the Malaga City Council; Juan Rosas, vice president of the Malaga Provincial Council; and María de Nova, general director of Sports Systems and Values; among other authorities.
