Krejcikova is back in the nomination for the BJK Cup. Petra Kvitova or Karolina Pliskova will be missing

Last year she excused herself from the final BJK Cup tournament in Glasgow at the last minute and caused quite a stir. But now Barbora Krejcikova returns to Petr Palá’s team for the qualifier against Ukraine.

The matches will be played in Turkey on 14 and 15 April due to the war in Ukraine. Czech captain Petr Pála has finally decided for this nomination: Barbora Krejcikova, Katerina Siniakova, Linda Noskova, Karolína Muchová and Markéta Vondroušová.

And there was really a lot to choose from. Five tennis players advanced to the eight finals at the last major in Indian Wells, USA, and two even to the quarter-finals.

But they will not play on a hard surface but on clay in Belek, Antalya. “We will play on clay, which all the girls grew up on and Bára and Marketa Vondroušová are playing absolutely excellent on it,” he said.

Eighteen-year-old Linda Noskova, who had a great start to the season in Australia, will be making her debut at the meeting. Captain Pála hopes that Nosková will grow into a national team mainstay in the future.

But there were also two excuses from the most experienced players – Karolina Pliskova and Petra Kvitova. Both of them want to rest in the already very demanding tennis season schedule.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s nomination is missing its biggest mainstay Anhelina Kalinina (29th). She has faced the Czech players four times in the current season with a 2:2 record.

However, she can still make the final nomination thanks to ITF rules. Ukraine will rely most heavily on Marta Kostyukova (40th), who won a tournament in Austin in early March.

The team’s number two will be Darya Yastremska (142nd). Then Lyudmyla Kichenokova, who is a regular on the WTA circuit alongside Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, will be ready for doubles.

Source: Czech Tennis Federation