Hamburg – As expected, three-time Grand Slam tournament winner Angelique Kerber leads the German tennis line-up for the Billie Jean King Cup match in Kazakhstan.
The former world number one joins Andrea Petkovic and Laura Siegemund as well as Anna-Lena Friedsam and Jule Niemeier in the squad, the German Tennis Federation announced. The qualifying match for the final week of the team competition, which used to be called Fed Cup, will be played on clay in the Kazakh capital Nur-Sultan on 15 and 16 April.
The finals week will take place from 8 to 13 November. If the German women lose in Kazakhstan, they will have to compete in a relegation duel to stay in the class. Last year, the team was eliminated in the group phase of the finals week.
The Germans are seeded sixth for this year’s edition. However, their opponents have two top-50 players in Yelena Rybakina (20th) and Yulia Putintseva (47th). Kerber is currently ranked 16th, Petkovic is number 60 in the world and Siegemund has slipped to 202nd due to her long injury break.
Kerber had confirmed a few days ago at the tournament in Indian Wells that she planned to return to the team competition, but also wanted to take into account developments in connection with the war in Ukraine when making her decision. Kazakhstan is a southern neighbour of Russia.
