Billie Jean King Cup 2025: India eyes playoffs with deepest women's tennis squad
Summary
India’s women’s tennis team, led by Ankita Raina and rising stars like Sahaja Yamalapalli, gears up for the Billie Jean King Cup 2025 in Pune—seeking playoff glory on home soil in Group I action
India’s climb in the women’s tennis team event—The Billie Jean King Cup, formerly known as Fed Cup—has been long and laboured. Since India started competing in the annual event regularly, beginning in 1991, they have spent a lot of time in the Asia-Oceania Group I, looking in at the world elite from the outside.
One of the primary reasons for this was that India rarely had more than one standout player at a time—while Nirupama Sanjeev, the first Indian woman to compete in the singles main draw of a Grand Slam, was the trailblazer in the 1990s, Sania Mirza’s brilliance sustained the national team for a while in the 2000s.
But Sanjeev and Mirza’s pioneering efforts have paved the way for the current generations. In 2020, with Mirza still competing in doubles, India took the big first step up when they won four of their five matches to qualify for the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs. Five years later, with the ball firmly in home court, India is looking for an encore.
The week-long Asia/Oceania Group I, beginning on Tuesday, 8 April, will be held at the MSLTA School of Tennis in Pune. Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Korea, New Zealand and Thailand will compete for two Playoffs spots, while the two bottom-placed sides will be relegated to Group II. Moving away from the lone warrior narrative, India come into this tournament with a deep talent pool—their strongest suit.
While the 32-year-old Ankita Raina will lead the charge, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty and Vaidehi Chaudhari will be looking to make an impact in the team event. Olympian Prarthana Thombare is the leading doubles player, while 15-year-old Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi, whose stirring semifinal run at the WTA Mumbai Open in February yanked the spotlight on Indian women’s tennis, has been named the reserve.
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“We have a good mixture of youth and experience," says India’s non-playing captain Vishal Uppal, a former Davis Cup player. “We have good depth in the team, something we haven't had in the past as much. I have the luxury of four excellent singles players. We have a couple of good doubles teams also."
Raina, the only member of the 2020 team, is a tireless slugger and is still India’s No. 1 player at World No. 304. Meanwhile, Yamalapalli and Bhamidipaty, younger and hopefully hungrier, play a more aggressive game. This variety will be handy when the team faces five different countries over the stretch of five days.
Unlike the Davis Cup, the premier men’s tennis team event, where countries usually go head-to-head, the round-robin format of the BJK Cup is what makes it more challenging. Each tie comprises two singles matches, and a doubles rubber if it goes to a decider. The coaching team not only has to learn and strategise about five rival teams, but also needs to have all contingencies in place.
“You don't get to know who you're playing against till about an hour before the match starts," adds Uppal.
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“Ankita has a lot of experience, Sahaja and Shrivalli have weapons. If they stay calm and focused and their weapons fire, we have a very good chance. So, there are a lot of permutations and combinations that can be used. We have to basically take each team, each day and devise plans for everything. The format is also challenging, because they have to play five matches in a week. They're used to doing it in tournaments. But, of course, playing for the country is different. The pressures are different."
India’s preparation was also affected due to a spell of rain in Pune last week. While the hosts will play all their matches on centre court, they haven’t had much time to acclimatise to the conditions, since the court was recently re-laid and wasn’t ready to play on till the weekend due to rain. Peak heat and humidity in April are bound to test the players.
With China and Japan playing in the upper levels of the tournament, the field is more evenly matched in this Asia-Oceania Group I. New Zealand’s Lulu Sun, ranked 45 globally, is the only top-100 player in the field and is expected to cruise in her matches. But with doubles star Erin Routliffe, ranked No. 3 in the world, not making the trip, Sun will have to carry the inexperienced three-member squad.
Meanwhile, Thailand may have the strongest squad on paper. In Mananchaya Sawangkaew (ranked 110) and Lanlana Tararudee (170), they have two solid singles players who are used to playing and training in stifling conditions. Peangtarn Plipuech is the leading doubles players, and it’s an art that Thailand, like India, are historically good at.
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Apart from Sun, Sawangkaew and Tararudee all the singles players competing in Pune are ranked outside the top 200 and play at a similar level on the pro tour.
“It’s going to be a physical test; it’s going to be a mental test," says Uppal. “It's a very strong and even group. Any team can beat any team on any given day. India has a very good chance of qualifying, but we are not going to think about that now. We are only going to focus on how we will achieve that target."
India have the home-court advantage and the momentum to propel them one step higher on the tennis ladder.
Teams competing in Asia/Oceania Group I: Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Korea, New Zealand and Thailand
Indian squad: Ankita Raina, Sahaja Yamalapalli, Shrivalli Bhamidipaty, Vaidehi Chaudhari, Prarthana Thombare, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi (reserve)
Captain: Vishal Uppal
Coach: Radhika Kanitkar
Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.
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