Bengaluru, Sep 30 (IANS) The All India Tennis Association has announced the final squad for the Indian women’s team, which will be participating at the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Play Off that will be held at the SM Krishna Tennis Stadium in Bengaluru from November 14-16. It will be the first time that India will host the Billie Jean King Cup play-offs.

The squad boasts a healthy mix of youth and experience with the likes of Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, Ankita Raina, Riya Bhatia, and Prarthana Thombare, with Vaidehi Chaudhari named as a reserve player. The squad will be captained by Vishal Uppal, while Radhika Kanitkar will be the coach.

The Indian team will commence its training for the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Play-off from November 4 in Bengaluru, and joining them will be Zeel Desai and Shruti Ahlawat. One of the newest names on the Indian tennis circuit, Maaya Rajeshwaran, who was part of the squad as a reserve player when India qualified for the Play-off tie, has not been included in this squad.

India, who have been drawn in Group G, alongside Slovenia and seventh seeds Netherlands, have featured in the play-off tie only once before, in 2021, when they lost 3-1 away to Latvia.

India, Slovenia, and the Netherlands will face each other in round-robin matches, after which the group winners will advance to the 2026 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers. The other two teams will go back into their respective 2026 Regional Group I events for next season.

Earlier, in April 2025, the Indian team had put on a brilliant show in Pune when it defeated the Korea Republic 2-1, to bag second place in the Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania Group 1, and seal qualification for the 2025 Billie Jean King Cup Play-off. The Indian team had finished second behind New Zealand in April.

Considered to be the World Cup of tennis, the Billie Jean King Cup, formerly known as the Fed Cup, is one of the most prestigious international tennis tournaments for women. It brings together top-ranked players from different countries to compete in a team format. The tournament is the women’s equivalent of the men’s Davis Cup.

–IANS

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