Strýcová One Step from Tennis Immortality: Czech Women Reach Billie Jean King Cup Final

The Czech women's tennis team has reached the final of the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly the Fed Cup), beating Spain 2:0 in the semi-final in China. The decisive match of the tournament will be played on Sunday, and Czech team captain Barbora Strýcová could match a unique feat achieved by tennis legend Billie Jean King, after whom the tournament is named.

Strýcová on the Threshold of History

Between 2011 and 2018, Strýcová won the tournament six times as a player under captain Petr Pála, whom she herself succeeded as team captain this year. Billie Jean King won the Cup six times as a player, once as a playing captain, and three more times as a non-playing captain — and now Strýcová is close to matching that path. She had already shown her joy after surviving a gruelling qualifier in Switzerland, where the Czechs came within a whisker of defeat, and over the summer she received a positive answer from the country's leading players when she asked about the September trip to China. That has given the generation of Linda Nosková, Karolína Muchová and Marie Bouzková a chance to experience the same emotions that Petra Kvitová, Lucie Šafářová and Karolína Plíšková once shared with Strýcová.

"It's great to be in the final. It's a team effort, and it's always a little easier to go into your match when the team is already leading 1:0, so I had it a bit easier," said Nosková, who beat Cristina Bucșa in Friday's tie, continuing the winning run after Muchová's win over Jessica Bouzas. Both matches finished 2:0 — just as in the quarter-final against Britain, everything was decided in the singles, without a doubles rubber being needed.

Before flying to Asia, Strýcová was reluctant to talk about the trophy: "Three tough matches await us there in the best-case scenario." The captain has now ticked off two of them, and the team is preparing for Sunday's final.

Spain Beaten Without a Doubles Rubber

The tournament format suits the Czechs less than the familiar two-day, best-of-three format played home and away. But in China, Czech strength was on full display: the Wimbledon finalists allowed themselves no surprises on Friday and managed to fight their way out of tricky situations too.

"At the start I was still finding my feet a bit. The court here is unusual, but I handled the important moments well," admitted Muchová, playing in the Billie Jean King Cup for the first time in four years. "Each of us has her own team here, and everyone does things a little differently, but we all share the same goal — we support and cheer each other on, and the training sessions are really good. I like that," said the player from Olomouc, describing the atmosphere.

Who Awaits the Czechs in the Final

The Czechs will have to wait to find out their final opponent: whether it will be Italy, led by Jasmine Paolini, or Ukraine, led by Elina Svitolina, will be decided by their own doubles rubber. "In my view, their semi-final will already be decided by the doubles," predicts Strýcová, for whom one final alone is not enough. "If we manage it, it will be one of the biggest dreams I've always wanted to fulfil."

Three years ago in Seville, the Czech team also had a star-studded line-up — Markéta Vondroušová, Barbora Krejčíková, Kateřina Siniaková, as well as Bouzková and Nosková. But in the semi-final against Canada, Leylah Fernandez showed incredible form, winning both her singles and doubles matches. Now, though, the Czechs need just two points for victory.

"This format isn't easy, but we play the way it works out for us. We're happy to be in the final, and on Sunday we'll see what happens. We'll be focused and ready," said Strýcová. Just two Czech points now stand between her and a historic double.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz