ITF chief eyeing Billie Jean King Cup Finals as multi-city event

The 2021 Billie Jean King Cup Finals are hosted by Prague after Budapest pulled out earlier but ITF Chief David Haggarty is eyeing its future as a multi-city event.

Known previously as the Federation Cup, the women’s finale has been transformed into a weeklong event featuring a total of 12 countries. Moving away from its tradition of a two-team final with home and away ties. The revamp occurs just a couple of years after a similar change was made to the Davis Cup, which was approved after receiving enough support from a vote that took place at an ITF AGM meeting.

Something similar is planned for the Billie Jean King Cup Finals with Haggarty commenting:

“It’s something that could happen, that preliminarily we are looking at."

Haggarty also spoek about the current date of the event explaining that November is here to say:

“I think most of the stakeholders believe that the end of the season makes sense. We’ve had conversations with the WTA about this as well and that’s where we’ve slotted in and that’s where we’ll be looking for for 2022 and beyond, in November for sure.”

The new format has received criticism by certain players who preferred the old system which is consistent for both the ATP and WTA. Alexander Zverev famously said he would never play for Germany in the new format.