BARTOSZ GĘBICZ: In the Billie Jean King Cup, the women’s national team of Poland will meet with Kazakhstan on April 14 and 15. Iga Świątek and Magdalena Fręch will not be in the squad, Jelena Rybakina will appear in the rivals. How do you assess our potential in this situation?
DARIUSZ ŁUKASZEWSKI (president of the Polish Tennis Association): On paper, when looking at the rankings, the advantage is on the side of the opponents. They are playing at home, they have had a little more time to prepare for this clash. However, this is tennis, and the beauty of it is, among other things, that the higher ranked player does not always win on the court. I believe that our national team can surprise and fight to qualify for the final tournament of the Billie Jean King Cup again. Iga will not play in this match, with Magda Fręch, who was always at the disposal of the team, it was up to the last moment whether she would fly with the team or not. However, she started very intensively, in the end her body rebelled and she had to let go. He won’t be back in competition until May. So Weronika Falkowska will appear on the second racket. This will be her debut, and these can be really surprising and fantastic. Let’s also remember that Magda Linette in the BJKC Finals did a great job as a leader. Let me remind you of her excellent disposition in Glasgow against Madison Keys and Karolina Plišková. I keep my fingers crossed for our team and of course I hope for a good result in Astana.
Fans will also watch the leader of rivals…
No wonder, Rybakina has recently attracted a lot of attention with her results. But I would like to point out that she is the Wimbledon grass champion, who has been successful on hard courts this season so far. On the ground, because on this surface the meeting will take place, she does not have to turn out to be the same queen. It won’t necessarily be as effective as before. However, conditions will change for her too. Nothing is certain in her case.
First grand slam with us. What a week it was!
The more that Magda Linette has won with the stars in the past. In Paris with Ashleigh Barty and Ons Jabeur, among others.
That’s right, she has proven many times that she is absolutely not afraid of anyone. Jelena also stays within her range. Magda achieved a life success at the Australian Open, then she went through a minor crisis, but in such a demanding discipline it is impossible to play at top speed all the time. These slightly weaker moments, as shown by the recent starts, are behind her, and now there are chances for stabilization at a very high level. Not only in individual matches, but also in entire tournaments. The Poznańian has gained a lot of experience over the years, she is an extremely conscientious, reliable, specific tennis player and aware of what she does, and in this part of her career she can successfully use it. The November performance in the national team strengthened her even more and I hope that now in this environment she will look for more positives.
The double may be important.
Yes, if he decided the result depending on which configuration captain Dawid Celt chose, it should provide a lot of emotions. And in the context of the whole, it really weighs a lot.
This season, Poland has already competed with Kazakhstan in the United Cup. Could that victory have any psychological significance now?
I don’t think so, the format of the event in Australia was completely different though. Back then we had a men’s and women’s competition on neutral ground. The first racket of the rivals did not play nominally, the second was a much weaker player from the fourth or fifth hundred (Żybek Kulambayeva – editorial note). It will be a different match with a much stronger team than then and on the rivals’ ground. One thing I would like to make clear at this point. We are fighting for promotion, but even if there is a defeat, there will be no reason to break down in any way. Absolutely, we will keep fighting! Although I personally believe that Magda Linette will succeed in what Iga has not been able to do lately. And he will win Rybakina.
Will the WTA ranking leader return to the national team?
I am convinced that will happen. We had an appointment now, but what happened at Indian Wells was unfortunately unpredictable. There was a break due to a rib injury. There were health problems, but in the future we will do everything to make Iga again in the Polish national team.
The Billie Jean King Cup finals took place last season without Christmas. Could this be any different?
Unfortunately, the big problem is the calendar and the fact that both federations – WTA and ITF – compete with each other rather than cooperate closely. Our tennis player spoke about it directly. If we only had a day off between the Masters and the Billie Jean King Cup finals held on different continents, something was wrong here. Recently, however, we hosted in Poland the head of the International Tennis Federation, David Haggerty, and we received from him an assurance that this situation would not happen again. There will be a minimum of three to four days break between the events.
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More than then, but is it enough to actually draw stars?
This is certainly not an ideal scenario, it would be nice to spread such important tournaments over time, but it is certainly a better option than in 2022. It gives hope that these launches can be sensibly combined.
When it comes to hope, I would like to ask about Kamil Majchrzak, who was suspended for doping. Can you count on a relatively quick solution? Knowing the tennis player from Piotrków and his work ethic, it is really hard to believe that he knowingly took any prohibited measures.
As far as I know, the case is still unresolved and there is light at the end of the tunnel. By the end of this six-month period, we should know whether the player’s arguments turned out to be strong enough to help him successfully defend himself.